Address by the President of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Dear colleagues and partners,

Dear followers of the BCCI cause,

In the spirit of its 123-year-old tradition, in 2018 the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry continued its hard work to improve the economic environment and support the daily activities of the companies. We can confidently say that this year we have further expanded the digitalisation of the Chamber’s services and its presence in the social networks so that our information, suggestions and advice can reach even the smallest companies.

The complicated rules of the European Union and the sometimes excessive efforts of the Bulgarian institutions in their implementation continue to create difficulties in the day-to-day work of companies, as is the case with the EU General Data Protection Regulation. But this challenge mobilised the BCCI team to react in time and prepare the necessary packages of services to make the fulfillment of the mandatory requirements more understandable and accessible.

Our efforts to inform companies at the earliest possible stage about the planned changes in the legislative framework of the economic environment – not only at national, but also at European and international level – continue. The close connections that we keep with the international organizations of which the Chamber is a member contribute greatly to this, because they have also increased their attentiveness and timely reaction against decisions which would be unfavourable for the business.

The important task that remains before us is to simplify the requirements and facilitate the procedures both in the country and abroad. In the context of protectionist policies, including trade practices, even in countries that until recently have been the driving force behind the expansion of free trade and the proponents of globalisation, our task becomes that more difficult. There are many other organizations and countries with whom we will continue to uphold these principles, as they are the ones leading the world towards more sustainable progress.

The positive signals of reduced worldwide poverty, growth and stability of the Bulgarian economy, motivate the system of the Bulgarian chambers of commerce and industry, and the regional chambers and sectorial organizations have become even stronger and more useful to their members. This is the right path that we must continue to follow in the future because the family of the chambers accredited by the International Chamber of Commerce only for the past year and a half has added to its initial 11 accredited chambers, among which was the BCCI, 560 more chambers from 23 countries.

On the eve of 2019, which for BCCI will be a year of reckoning and in which we will assume the rotating presidency of the Association of the Organizations of Bulgarian Employers, the live contact with you – our members – will be extremely important. We will continue our efforts to encourage and assist companies to adopt in their work the international commercial and industrial standards, to use modern methods of presenting and positioning themselves on international markets as this is our mission and we will not give up on it. We have updated the Trade Register of the Chamber and simplified its free use so that international businesses can search for Bulgarian partners from every part of the world. We have given Bulgarian companies the opportunity to present their work through 360-degree video recording of their products, technologies, offices and production facilities. And since this information is backed up by the BCCI, with its authority and international prestige, it is perceived as authentic and reliable.

I would like to thank you for the successful partnership so far and wish you health and success in the hard entrepreneurial activity for the prosperity of our country!

Tsvetan Simeonov

 BCCI President