site.btaBulgaria and Greece Seek to Attract Investors with Joint Projects

Bulgaria and Greece will seek to attract investors with joint projects. This was decided during a meeting between a Bulgarian government delegation, visiting Athens, and the Minister of Development and Investment of Greece, Andonis Georgiadis, the Bulgarian Transport and Communications Ministry reported on Friday. 

The Bulgarian government delegation included Hristo Aleksiev, caretaker Deputy Prime Minister for economic policies and Minister of Transport and Communications, Nikola Stoyanov, caretaker Minister of Economy and Industry, and Rossen Hristov, caretaker Minister of Energy.

The two sides agreed that the serious projects that Bulgaria and Greece are jointly implementing in the field of transport and energy are the basis for strengthening the economic relations between the two countries and increasing investor interest in the region.

Aleksiev mentioned as an example the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is interested in projects such as the gas interconnector and the hydrogen economy. 

"We have seen increased interest in investment and changing supply chains over the last six months, and therefore it is very important to work together with our Greek counterparts and make the most of all opportunities to attract new capital to the region," Nikola Stoyanov said.

It became clear during the meeting that trade between Bulgaria and Greece is expected to grow by nearly 30% in 2021 and exceed EUR 4.3 billion. 

The Greek side underlined the results Bulgaria is achieving in attracting investments in the automotive industry and expressed willingness for partnership in this field. They discussed the possibility of working to attract new investors by combining the strengths of the two countries and the transport connectivity of Greece with its ports, the experience of Bulgaria and the trained Bulgarian work force.

Bulgaria and Greece also agreed to work to establish common innovation centres and promote start-ups. Minister Stoyanov invited his Greek counterpart to Bulgaria to discuss common initiatives in this field. 

As part of the program of the visit of the Bulgarian delegation to Athens, the two sides also discussed the accelerated construction of the Intermodal Transport Corridor Thessaloniki-Kavala-Alexandroupolis-Burgas-Varna-Ruse. A joint management company for the project is to be established. Both countries will apply for European funding with a common application form.