 Entering European markets
After the collapse of the Comecom trading bloc Bulgaria has gradually reoriented its trade links to the EU. The country's associate membership of the EU and the abolishment of trade restrictions supported the trend. Exports to the EU more than doubled in the 1990-1996 period, Germany and Italy being the most common trade partners.
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At the same time Bulgaria lost great share of the Russia market. The recent visit in Russia of Bulgarian President, accompanied by a large business delegation, was followed by an agreement facilitating Bulgarian export to Russia where some Bulgarian companies are still well represented while others are fighting to regain market share. The trade and price liberalization is almost completed with Bulgaria being the member of World Trade Organization, CEFTA and associate member of EU.
Minister of Trade and Tourism Valentin Vassilev gives more details: " What we have done for one year is that first of all we completely legalized the domestic market . The Government and the state did not interfere in pricing. We have completely legalized the export of goods from Bulgaria. 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. 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 liberalization. We expect that to happen also with CEFTA (Central European Free Trade Agreement) countries that present a 100 million people market".
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BULGARIA, 
