Bulgarian Investment Agency: Bulgaria is working hard to attract Asian investors
Source：Investor BG
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
Update Time：2023/02/11
A leading American perfume company is planning an investment in our country, said the director of the Bulgarian Investment Agency
Bulgaria still has a chance to attract Asian investors who want to relocate their production closer to their European customers, but this window will be open for a short time. This was said by Bogdan Bogdanov, executive director of the Bulgarian Investment Agency (BAI), in the program "Business Start" on Bloomberg TV Bulgaria.
"Until now, Bulgaria has been focused on traditional European markets, and it is no coincidence that in recent years we have seen a lot of investments from Germany, Turkey, Austria, etc. What we are aiming for at the moment is dictated by the trend in Europe and the USA to strive for economic and technological sovereignty in certain industries. We saw it in the automotive industry, in battery production," the guest said.
Our country is currently working quite hard on Asian markets, Bogdanov pointed out. "We already have several specific investment intentions from Asian companies. Now is the time for Bulgaria to take advantage of this situation of regional policies of companies that traditionally have not been forced to look for new locations, but now they have to do it," he believes. And he specified that Bulgaria can attract Asian companies because it has all the advantages to be given to investors.
"We have seen several large-scale investments in Europe by Asian companies, mainly Chinese and Korean with an automotive focus. This will continue, but this niche will have a very short window in which companies will provide local production. So now is the time for us to be really aggressive and adequate in our actions, but also to have a correct foreign policy. Because these investors, especially when we talk about larger-scale investments, are financed by state banks and by governments. So, we cannot only attract them with investment marketing. There must be a very targeted state foreign policy," commented Bogdanov.
The assessment after the series of events in the US in December 2022, organized by the Bulgarian Investment Agency, is that, in general, Bulgaria is not a very familiar investment destination for American investors, "which is not a surprise", said Bogdanov. "It is necessary to implement our program much more consistently and systematically, because this is a huge market with huge opportunities," he pointed out.
The tendency of European companies to open their representative offices and productions in the USA will be similar for American companies and productions that will want access to Europe, Bogdanov also said. The Bulgarian Investment Agency plans, together with partners, to continue organizing targeted events to attract investors from the USA to Bulgaria.
Two of the more than 25 companies that BAI met with during its visit to the US are already planning an investment, including one that works in the perfume sector and is considering an investment in production already this year and will be visiting Bulgaria next week, the interlocutor revealed.
Source: https://tradeinfo.taitra.org.tw/manage/submissions/drafts/edit;draftId=a88cc154-0c59-47b7-ab13-6544f2b30f85