Bulgaria must be a visible and easily accessible business and tourist destination
13 January 2012 News
We want to make Bulgaria an attractive business destination for foreign investors, Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov said at a meeting with representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria. The meeting was attended by Chamber President Peter Lithgow, Vice-Presidents Atanas Garov and Daniel Berg and Executive Director Valentin Georgiev.
Bulgaria should be easily accessible for foreign investors and tourists, Minister Mladenov emphasised. For this reason, the Foreign Ministry is already working on visa liberalization and on increasing the number of countries where visa outsourcing service centres operate.
So far, such centres operate in Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain, and the goal is to introduce such services in some of the countries in the Southern African region, Moldova, Ukraine and other places. According to Mladenov, key to this will be a decision allowing holders of Schengen visas to travel to Bulgaria without needing a Bulgarian visa.
Mr Lithgow said that active dialogue with government is crucial to ensuring a well-functioning and sustainable business environment. The American Chamber of Commerce is willing to co-operate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish business with countries with which Bulgaria has traditionally good bilateral relations.
Mladenov said that diplomacy can help in relations with the Gulf, Middle East and North Africa so that Bulgarian business, including the American Chamber of Commerce, may be supported in entering these new markets. To facilitate this process, the government is arranging the participation of the country in a business forum to be held March in Qatar, at which many Bulgarian companies will be represented.