Alexander Manolev, Deputy Minister of Economy of Bulgaria
Doha: Terming the visit of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria and his delegation to Qatar as ‘very fruitful’, Alexander Manolev, Deputy Minister of Economy of Bulgaria, has said that Bulgarian-Qatari Joint Commission for Economic and Technical Cooperation will ‘most likely’ meet in Sofia by the end of this year.
“The purpose of the visit of the President of Bulgaria with his delegation is to activate our economic relations,” Manolev said. In an interview with The Peninsula, the Bulgarian Minister said that Bulgarian-Qatari Joint Commission for Economic and Technical Cooperation would most likely meet by the end of this year to further discuss ways of boosting bilateral economic relations.
He said that the last meeting of the joint commission was held in 2014 therefore another meeting was important for the enhancing bilateral business ties. “This time, it is our turn to host the joint commission in Sofia,” he added.
Manolev said that his meetings with H E the Minister of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of Qatar Free Zone Authority (QFZA) remained very fruitful. “In the meetings, we spoke on how to enhance bilateral business ties,” he added.
The Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Economy further said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between QFZA and the National Company Industrial Zones (NCIZ) of Bulgaria.
“Both countries will exchange expertise under the MoU and will promote mutual investments,” he added.
He said that the Qatari-Bulgarian Business Forum was another important activity during the visit of the President of Bulgaria where many Business-to-Business meetings took place between companies from the both sides to discuss new partnerships. “As many as 30 Bulgarian companies are here which took part in the forum,” he added.
Manolev said that he had received very positive feedback from the Bulgarian companies regarding the business forum. “Overall it was very fruitful visit,” he noted. The Bulgarian companies which took part in the business forum represented sectors including ICT, machine building, construction, agriculture, and food industry. “These are the sectors with big potential for trade and Qatari investments in Bulgaria,” he added.
Manolev said that Bulgaria’s ICT sector was the fastest growing sector in Southeastern Europe. “We have long-standing traditions in this sector with excellent expertise. Our universities are graduating around 4500 students in ICT discipline every year,” he said. He further said that there existed a lot of opportunities for investment in machine building sector in Bulgaria.
Regarding the bilateral trade, he said the volume of current bilateral trade was not significant though the growth rate in Bulgaria had increased quintuple in the last decade. “There is great potential to enhance bilateral trade.”
To a question, he said Bulgaria could export pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electronics and ICT products and services to Qatar. “These are the most potential areas to increase trade volume.”
He said the QFZA officials would also visit Sofia for the follow-up meetings on enhancing bilateral cooperation. “In Bulgaria, we have a mix of industrial zones and free zones which are operated by the Ministry of Economy and they are mostly filled with foreign companies,” he observed.
Manolev said another agreement was signed between Bulgaria’s SME agency and Qatar Chamber during the visit of the President of Bulgaria. “Under the pact, both sides will exchange expertise and organize business forums in both countries to promote business relations and partnerships.”
He said that due to strong political relations between Bulgaria and Qatar, there already existed a strong legal base for building and promoting bilateral ties in different sectors. To another question on the potential of promoting cooperation in the tourism sector, he said: “There is also a great potential. Tourism sector of both countries is booming. We are connected with 10 flights per week. Therefore, there is opportunity to boost cooperation to promote tourism,” he added.
