site.btaUPDATED President Radev Addresses Business Forum in Singapore

Investing in people, education, innovation and technology is the key to success in the future, said President Rumen Radev at the opening of a business forum in Singapore. 

Participating are representatives of Bulgarian and Singaporean companies. The head of State is on a working visit to Singapore.

"The key to the future is partnership and we are here to develop friendship and partnership in many areas of mutual interest, starting with electronics and semiconductors," the President said. “We have many similarities, almost the same population, extremely limited natural resources. Both countries are aware that the biggest and most important asset we have is our people,” Radev added.

 “Bulgaria is a centre of information technologies and start-ups for the whole Eastern Europe, Radev said. Bulgaria ranks first in Europe in terms of the number of IT specialists per capita and we can say that we are the FinTech capital of Eastern Europe with fast-growing sectors, especially in the field of electronics,” the head of State added. Electronics account for the largest share of Bulgaria’s exports, more than 11% of the country’s GDP, and more and more Western companies are investing in Bulgaria, the President said.

President Radev said that Bulgaria has traditions in the defence industry, and today maintains a strong position in the global market. “We are now in the process of a huge transformation from Soviet to NATO standards,” Radev said.

The President also noted the tourism sector and said that earlier today he had a very interesting meeting with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. “I am proud that Bulgaria is known here for its history, but not only. We are a very strong tourist destination, with more than 15% of our GDP coming from tourism and we have all types of tourism,” the President said. We can say that we are the spa capital of Europe. I know that people in Singapore are very disciplined and hardworking, when you get tired, please come to Bulgaria, we will take care of you, be sure that you will come back with more strength to contribute to your country,” Rumen Radev said.

There are many areas where the two countries can work together, the President said, noting the automotive sector. “15 years ago several Bulgarians decided that they would develop the automotive sector. Everybody laughed at them because we were backward. We started from scratch. Now we have 350 companies that produce about 12% of our GDP and more than 75 000 employees,” the President said.

He said that Bulgaria has a company that produces micro and small satellites and sells them to Elon Musk.

“With today's business forum, we will have the opportunity to learn about the potential for cooperation between Bulgaria and Singapore, said Lennon Tan, President of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation, at the opening. 

In Singapore and Vietnam, the President is accompanied by Bulgarian business representatives from the information and high-tech, defence, automotive, engineering and other sectors. The delegation led by him includes Education Minister Galin Tsokov, Innovation and Growth Minister Rosen Karadimov, Tourism Minister Evtim Miloshev, as well as mayors of Bulgarian municipalities. The President is also accompanied by his wife, Desislava Radeva.

Later on Friday, Rumen Radev will meet his Singaporean counterpart, Tharman Shanmugaratnam. President Radev is on a working visit to Singapore until November 24, when he will leave for an official visit to Vietnam.