Partnership meeting under the ERIAS project

Representatives of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Bulgaria - from the BCCI, Haskovo CCI and CCI Stara Zagora took part in a partnership meeting under the ERIAS project, held in an electronic environment. The main goal of the meeting was to discuss what has been done so far and the future activities of the project, which aims to provide support for the integration of refugees and people from third countries /TCNs/ in the European labor market.

Ben Butters, Deputy Executive Director of  EUROCHAMBRES, the organization that unites the chambers of commerce in this project, said that migrants are an important element of the labor market equation, especially in the current times of challenges, when overall unemployment is rising due to the economic crisis generated by COVID-19. The ERIAS project contributes to the transfer of new skills to migrants, generating employment and motivating the TCNs to become entrepreneurs.

EUROCHAMBRES and the European social partners are in constant dialogue with the European Commission, under a 2017 general agreement to promote the economic integration of migrants and people from third countries, Butters said.

The project partners from Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Italy and France shared their achievements, including: developed integration check-list for migrants, a series of seminars for employers and people from third countries on employment, hiring foreigners, acquiring skills, etc.

Colleagues from the Chambers of Commerce and Industry also collect successful examples of labor integration of people from third countries.

BCCI and the regional chambers of commerce and industry in Stara Zagora and Haskovo were involved in most of these activities. More information can be found at www.erias.org.

The ERIAS project is even involved in a pledge presented at the first International Refugee Forum in Geneva in December 2019, which states: “The network of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, coordinated by EUROCHAMBRES, is committed to contributing to the economic integration of refugees through its action program entitled "European Refugee Integration Action Scheme" – ERIAS”.

The commitment is to provide support to third country nationals for initial skills assessment, choosing an appropriate vocational training course, identifying training/employment opportunities, finding an employer and/or assisting in setting up own business. Companies in the partner countries will be offered assistance and guidance in hiring people from third countries.