Q: Bulgaria applies for EU and NATO membership. To what extent Bulgarian economy especially Bulgarian business is ready to operate in a strongly competitive environment?
A: It is our main purpose to make the economy stable and competitive and we are doing a lot of things in this direction. I am going to talk about things that are within my scope of knowledge. Bulgaria is a small export-oriented country. The trade-exchange in terms of commodities of Bulgaria for last year was 9.6 billion $ that is almost 80% of the GDP and we have a positive trade balance. What we have done for one year is that first of all we completely legalised the domestic market . The Government and the state did not interfere in pricing. We have completely legalised the export of goods from Bulgaria. We have created an agency for insuring and guarranteing the export trade and centre for the promotion of export. Our next purpose is to find new markets for Bulgaria that means to make it a part of the European and World economic and trade system. We are a WTO member and an associated member of EU which means that by 2001 we are going to have a totally free access to the European trade market. Even now from the 1-st of January, 1998 the Bulgarian industrial goods are exported to the EU without any custom’s duties. The liberalisation of the sector of agriculture is more than a little slower but by that time it is going to be done completely. We have the same agreement with the CEFTA countries: Switzerland, Norway, Island and Luxemburg and within one month Bulgaria is going to be a full CEFTA member. This is a free trade association of the countries that are associated members of the EU.
Q: And what would be the effect for Bulgarian economy as a whole, for Bulgarian business and for Bulgarian consumers?
A: The effect is already being shown and it is a big effect. Only for one year our export to the EU grew up with 11%. So 46% of the Bulgarian export is for the EU countries exactly because of that liberalisation. We expect that to happen also with CEFTA countries that present a 100 million people market. We are preparing such free- trade agreements with the Turkey economic , with the Baltic states as well. So Bulgaria has access to twice bigger markets than last year. This is good for the investors because they always ask that if they produce here where can I export the products duty-free. Our major foreign trade partner from the EU countries is Germany. We export goods mostly for Italy. Germany and Belgium are the main investors in Bulgaria at the moment. That came with two big companies, concerning Belgium: Solvei and Union Minia , but we have already a lot of other smaller investments . It is our main target to make first a structural and privatisation reform by attracting foreign investments. There are some very important things to be done in order to change the opinion about Bulgaria. First of all there is a very big political stability in Bulgaria at the moment. The Government possesses 60% of the seats in the Parliament which means that we conduct the reform without any delay. We have achieved a lot of financial stability. Within the macro frame of the work in the budget we have 16% of annual inflation but according to my judgement it will not be higher than 8% . The last few months we had 0 inflation . We expect 4.5% increase of the GDP . This all is very important for the investors and the trade deals as well. But every market is important for us besides the countries that I mentioned already. We are trying to step onto other markets as well and that’s why we had negotiations with many other countries, we are taking part in many economic forums, where we are presenting Bulgaria and the trade and the investment opportunities here.
Q: What is your import-export relation with the USA?
A: Unfortunately there is a lot of potential between our countries . I am going to give your an exact data for 1997: The USA in terms of investments have only 110 million $ , there are rating on the third place after Germany and Belgium. In terms of trade exchange
,for 1997 it was 310 million $; It was less for 1996 - 224 million $. The export was 128 million $ and the import was 181 million $. We have a negative trade balance - 52 million
$. I think that it is a very small trade-exchange. This is only 3.3% of the total trade-exchange of Bulgaria
Q: What could be done to improve those trade-exchanges?
A: There are a lot of things that need to be done , some of them we have already almost done with the European countries. First of all an information about the changes in Bulgaria should reach the USA and should be distributed immediately. The information will be about the new laws, the liberalisation in the trade, the investment and trade opportunities in Bulgaria. Secondly there have to be more economical forums in which we can represent Bulgaria in front of the business spheres of the USA. We also have to create better contacts between the two companies of both countries and the rest should be done by the companies them selves.
Q: As a last question concerning the trade section of this interview: BULGARTABAC is one of the most attractive companies to be privatised, what kind of the investor from Europe or US would be the best for it?
A: I would not like to speak about that at the moment
because there is an open competition about the consultant
who is going to sell BULGARTABAC at the moment.
There are taking part one of the biggest consultant
agencies in the world in that competition. |
Q: Once upon a time Bulgaria was the most attractive tourist destination in Central and Eastern countries among the citizens of so called " socialist countries
". What is the situtaion now having in mind the strong competition of Turkish and Greek resorts?
A: Bulgaria is taking back its place in this region as a leading tourist country pretty fast . Last year Bulgaria was visited by 2336000 tourists which was approximately 7% more than 1996. And until the present moment of this year we have 5% increase of subscriptions compare to 1997. The biggest part is coming from Germany - 36%, Russia and the former Soviet Republics are 34%, and after that come the Scandinavian countries and UK. These are our main tourism markets We are offering all kinds of tourism- seaside-tourism, skiing-tourism, mountain-tourism, hunting-tourism, culture-tourism
Q: Which are your main competitive advantages against your neighbours and competitors?
A: We have other advantages as well. First of all, tourists feel very safe in Bulgaria. We have competitive prices that are little lower than in the other countries. And besides that, our nature is a lot richer than our neighbouring countries. We have the most preserved forests in Europe ,of course, excluding the Scandinavian countries. We have a wonderful mixture of beautiful beaches and right next to them beautiful forests , rivers, reserves. And our Southern Black Sea cost has the largest diversity of biological, animal and plant species. We are privatising everything in the tourism sector at the moment. By the end of this year 58-60% of the state-owned objects are going to be privatised which means that 70-80% of the tourism sector will be private because there are private hotels that were already constructed or are being built now a the moment. By next year the privatisation will be completed and everything will be private. So this is the right moment to buy and invest in Bulgaria because who will do it now he will gain a lot.
Q: I would like to know what you and your Ministry have done to stimulate the tourism business because there has been a lot of improvement obviously?
A: First of all we have already prepared a low that is at the moment in the Parliament and have already passed the first reading. It guarantees a protections of the consumers of the tourism sector, the tourists them selves. It guarantees the quality of services, national advertising, because first of all tourism is advertising and investments. The rest is nature and we have it already.
Q: As a more personal question, we know that you were a former journalist and how do feel now answering our questions now?
A: I feel very well. The journalists are very important especially for politicians. And especially in the USA you know it very well.
Q: What are you doing in your free time. We know that you are very good tennis player...?
A: Unfortunately I have very limited free- time and there are a lot of things that I love. I like sea sports very much-scuba-diving especially. I have 4500 hours diving hours not only in Black Sea but also in Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. I love to read as well, but there is not much time.
Q: As a final issue, keeping in mind that you are reaching 2.5 million readers
, what will be your final message to them?
A: They to become more interested in Bulgaria. It is a very interesting country especially for investors at the moment. Of course, I would invite them to see for themselves ,if it is possible with their money.
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BULGARIA, 
