More than 90 percent of the Austrian companies which have invested in this country intend to keep or expand their investments in Bulgaria, Tsvetan Simeonov, President of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry declared at the Bulgarian-Austrian business forum in Sofia.

Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen who is paying a two-day official visit to this country at the invitation of President Rumen Radev, was a special guest at the event. Addressing the forum, President Van der Bellen pointed out that diplomatic relations between Austria and Bulgaria have their traditions, but that at this time they are particularly intensive, as in July Bulgaria will hand the Presidency of the Council of the EU over to Austria. President Radev on his part laid emphasis on the fact that Austria is a leading investor in this country, with trade between the two countries last year reaching 1.2 billion euro.

“We do not gauge the effect of the presence of Austrian businesses in Bulgaria by quantifying dry financial statistics. It has a much bigger effect because the presence of Austrian businesses in this country is long-term, creating jobs, investing effort in staff training and helping promote a new business environment in the country. On its part Bulgaria is growing into a European leader in the IT industry. But there could be no Europe of the future if we do not have adequate transport, energy and digital connectivity. That is the reason why Bulgaria is putting a lot of effort in this direction.”

President Radev noted further that Bulgaria’s strategic position, its access to different markets, its fiscal and economic stability are a crucial and visible factor Austrian businesses can and must avail themselves of.

Though stable, the economic environment in this country has its failings, according to the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. What are they? Tsvetan Simeonov:

“One of them is the slippage of rail transport, another problem is crossing borders. Billions have been invested in improving the road network in Bulgaria, and soon it will take 3-4 hours to traverse the territory of the country, so it is not normal to have delays at border checkpoints. The delays are caused by the inefficient border control system and the insufficient number of border checkpoints, with the exception of our border with Greece. That is why I think the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance and the National Customs Agency must try harder to solve these problems. As to red tape in Bulgaria, we all know it exists. I totally understand why companies are so annoyed that the administration is not functioning quickly and efficiently. A lot of money was invested in e-government and we believe that once it becomes fact we shall be able to take serious steps in fighting corruption. Another target of criticism is the Bulgarian judiciary.”

Tsvetan Simeonov admitted that many people working in the business sector do not know they can seek arbitration as an alternative to the state justice system. To do that, an option that will save them a lot of trouble, all they have to do is include a sentence in their contracts to the effect that litigation cases shall be examined by a court of arbitration and not by a state court.

English version: Milena Daynova