Nine forums in nine different countries will feature thirty activities for attracting direct investments to Bulgaria. Apart from UK, Germany, Belgium, France and Russia, this country is going to promote its potential to business circles in USA, China, Japan, the Middle East – most probably in Qatar, as well as in South Africa. This is the schedule of the global tour of the InvestBulgaria Agency aimed to attract foreign companies to the Bulgarian market. The tour is planned to take place in 2012 and 2013. Under the plan, at each forum Bulgarian experts are going to present one or two industrial sectors so as to be able to narrow-target foreign investors and businesses. The event in UK will be dedicated to outsourcing and information technology. At the end of March the Bulgarian sector of electronics, electrical engineering and machine-building will have its presentation in Germany. Fifty to one-hundred senior executives will be invited to join this forum coming from industries in that sector. The forums in Belgium and France are planned for April, and in faraway destinations, for September and October. One of the forums will be held in China, as, over the recent years, that country has not hosted marketing presentations of Bulgaria as an investment destination. “This campaign will help us bring new investors from Asia, and particularly, from China which has emerged as one of the leading investors worldwide”, Borislav Stefanov, CEO of InvestBulgaria Agency said in an interview for Radio Bulgaria. Three high-profile conferences in association with leading world media, are included in the global tour of Bulgarian experts. The conferences will seek comprehensive presentations of Bulgaria in Europe, North America and Asia. They – unlike other forums – will not be specialized by sectors.
Last year was not particularly favorable in terms of the foreign investment inflow, not only in Bulgaria but in the rest of the world as well. Incomplete data from the Bulgarian National Bank suggest that about EUR 740 M in fresh money has entered the country in 2011. The final estimate is likely to reach EUR 1 B. Most countries neighboring on Bulgaria are very active promoting themselves as investor destinations. Macedonia, Turkey and Georgia have launched consistent campaigns in leading world media. Radio Bulgaria talked to the CEO of InvestBulgaria Agency Borislav Stefanov.
In the context of the slump in foreign investments coming to Bulgaria, does the new approach of promoting individual sectors stand good chances of boosting the country’s image as a worthy destination for foreign capital?
“This breakdown by industries will be more productive as it allows us to concentrate on a well-defined target audience”, Borislav Stefanov explains, and specifies, “Most of investment forums are held with varied audiences, and it is difficult to make sure that one topic would interest them all. It is a different story, if you invite owners of chemical plants and factories, for instance. At the end of the day, they can decide to move their production base to Bulgaria. In this sense, narrow-targeting by sectors will be of greater use.”
What is Bulgaria’s sector with the brightest future with regard to investments?
“Over the recent years this has been outsourcing in all its forms. This is a sector that allows a relatively fast start of a business and hiring hundreds and even thousands of people with no need of huge capital spending. In more traditional sectors, there is strong interest in the processing industry. Bulgaria is ready to offer a few advantages such as cheaper land, energy and workers. Besides, in Bulgaria it is easier to find people speaking various foreign languages, even exotic ones. Compared to neighboring countries, this is definitely an advantage. In Romania it is easy to find French-speaking employees, but not so many German-speaking ones. In Hungary the situation is the reverse. In Bulgaria we’ve got a good mix of the more popular and more exotic languages, such as the Scandinavian ones.”
Who is Bulgaria’s main rival in attracting foreign investments, and who is the biggest investor in this country last year?
“Our main rivals are the countries in the region. Investors would not compare Bulgaria with Germany or China. They would compare Bulgaria with Serbia, Romania, Slovakia or Hungary. Notably, Serbia and Romania are the two countries that have emerged as our chief rivals”, the CEO of InvestBulgaria Agency Borislav Stefanov comments. “As to the biggest investor, figures from the Bulgarian National Bank point to the Netherlands and Austria. In the case with the Netherlands, these figures do not always reflect realistically the amounts of money that come from their companies. If an American company has offices in the Netherlands and invests in Bulgaria, this is reported as a Dutch investment. In our figures from 2010, the USA is among the biggest investors in Bulgaria. To recap: the EU countries as a group are the biggest investor in Bulgaria. Investments from non-European countries account for 10 to 15 percent.”
What sector has absorbed the biggest quantity of foreign investments in 2011?
“The sector with the most investments last year was telecommunications. It absorbed around EUR 300 M, and this is a large share. This sector includes mobile operators, fixed line operators, cable television and any businesses that have to do with remote data transfer”, concludes Borislav Stefanov, CEO of InvestBulgaria Agency.
Text: bnr.bg
(16.02.2012)