Bulgaria welcomes Chinese investment

Bulgaria welcomes and encourages Chinese companies to cooperate with their Bulgarian counterparts to seek joint business opportunities and develop cooperation, a senior official of a Bulgarian government investment promotion agency said during an investment forum held in Beijing.

The 2014 Bulgarian Investment Forum, organized by the InvestBulgaria Agency (IBA) and the Bulgarian Embassy in Beijing, was held at the Beijing Traders Hotel on Nov 6, 2014. The event brings together senior policy makers, financial and corporate decision makers and advisors from Bulgaria and China, who share their insights on investment and partnership opportunities.

Kostadin Djatev, deputy executive director of InvestBulgaria Agency, introduced the macroeconomic and financial environment in Bulgaria, including information on government incentives for attracting direct foreign investment.

Bulgaria has one of the lowest business cost in Europe, as well as the lowest taxes in the EU, Djatev said. For example, there is a 10 percent corporate tax and zero percent corporate tax for investment in areas with a high unemployment rate, a 10 percent income tax, competitive labor costs and fixed exchange rates.

Bulgaria, a key transit country linking central Europe and the Middle East, has an extensive network of railways and highways. Bulgarian products such as yogurt, wine and rose oil have a good reputation in the Chinese market, while corn, dairy products and tobacco have great potential for export to China.

Tianjin State Farms Agribusiness Group established a wholly-owned subsidiary in Bulgaria on Nov 17, 2011. Xu Lei, a representative from the agriculture venture of the Tianjin State Farms Agribusiness Group in northwest Bulgaria, said at the forum that the company plans to add an extra investment of 100 million euros ($125.15 million) to build an industrial park for agricultural products processing.

Bulgaria was the second country in the world to recognize the People's Republic of China. The two countries established diplomatic relations on Oct 4, 1949. In recent years, economic and trade relations between China and Bulgaria have been developing dynamically and great successes in this field were achieved. The biggest Chinese investments are in electrical, engineering, IT, telecom and trade sectors.

The InvestBulgaria Agency (IBA) is part of the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, established to help potential and existing investors explore investment opportunities and carry out green investment projects in the country.