Meeting with the newly appointed commercial counsellor at our Embassy in Bern

Vesela Lalova, a newly appointed at the Embassy of Bulgaria in Bern, the Swiss Confederation, met with the President of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Mr. Tsvetan Simeonov.

The commercial counsellor was made aware of the key activities and services provided by the Chamber to Bulgarian and foreign companies, the functioning of the Electronic Commercial Register of the Chamber, the economic analyses and forecasts produced, the Court of Arbitration.

Vesela Lalova, on her part, presented the objectives and plans during the forthcoming mandate in Bern.

It has been noted that the Swiss investors have been carrying out their activities in sectors traditionally rapidly developing during the last years in Bulgaria. In addition to the investment activities concentrated in Sofia, some Swiss companies are also focusing on industrial parks in other cities - Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Targovishte, Varna and Kazanlak. The information about doing business in Switzerland, the tax regime for foreign companies operating within the Confederation, and the sectorial analyses provided by the Commercial and Economic Section (CES) of the Bulgarian embassy Embassy in Bern was also particularly useful.

According to information from the Ministry of Economy, in the period January - March 2018, the exports to Switzerland amounted to EUR 39.3 million (57% growth compared to 2017, a 0.6% share of the total exports and 25th place in the Bulgarian exports), while the imports from Switzerland amounted to EUR 53.2 million (a growth of 12.1%, a 0.7% share of the total imports, 25th place in the imports).

BCCI and CES will continue to cooperate in order to improve economic ties between the two countries.