site.btaSkilled Labour Is What Should Be Advertised about Bulgaria, Not Cheap Labour, Economy Minister Says

Economy and Industry Minister Nikola Stoyanov on Sunday discussed changing the focus of labour advertising, streamlining the government's investment policy, tackling the energy crisis, and reviving commercial services abroad in a report on his ministry's performance since the caretaker government took office on August 2, 2022.

Stoyanov said it is time to stop advertising Bulgaria for its cheap labour and begin to highlight the skills of its experts and the quality of the work done by local people.

The government has changed its investment policy, he said. "Years ago, it was important to bring just any investors, regardless of how much money they were prepared to spend, but for us it has been important to draw investments with a higher added value from people who can afford to pay higher wages," he said.

Stoyanov recalled that when the present caretaker government took over in August, they found that, as regards investments, the ministries were divided in an unprincipled way, but he and the Minister of Innovation and Growth Alexander Pulev corrected that.

The caretaker government achieved a 20% cut on fuel prices and reversed inflation growth for the first time in 18 months, Stoyanov said.

By August 2022, the problems with energy supplies made company closures imminent, so one of the first tasks of the new government was to open negotiations with Lukoil. "We arranged for the company to change the place of its business activities and pay its taxes in Bulgaria," the Minister reported. The next logical step was to use Lukoil's excessive profits to finance customer support measures. "Work is already underway to this end," he added.

Stoyanov hopes that next week the Council of Ministers will consider additional measures in support of public transport passengers. The proposals include a 40% discount on season tickets for retired people, a 70% discount for school students and zero fares for children up to 10 years of age.

Stoyanov refuted allegations that the rise of fuel prices in Bulgaria has been contained thanks to international factors. He presented data which showed that the price fall in Bulgaria has been more significant than in other European countries.

He also reviewed the work with respect to industrial parks over the last few months. "We changed the planning method for industrial zones, which are an indisputable instrument for balanced development of the regions," he said. The idea is to channel investments into smaller industrial zones, in regions which have employment problems.

"When I took over the leadership of the ministry, over one-third of the commercial services of Bulgaria's missions abroad were vacant and the country had no trade attaches in key countries such as Italy, France, the United States, China and India," Stoyanov said, adding that now the situation is better.

"We started a series of meetings with foreign companies in Bulgaria, because they are among our best ambassadors to the world. The initiative is received very positively by the foreign companies and is contributing to a better business environment," the Minister said.

Investment protection agreements have been drafted with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. "Investments from these countries have been discussed for years, but Bulgaria had not taken even the formal step of signing such important bilateral documents. I am glad that we managed to draft them in just six months, and I hope that this will give a real impetus to investments from these countries," Stoyanov said.

The news conference was attended by Deputy Economy and Energy Ministers Irina Shtonova, Dimitar Danchev and Yanko Topalov, and the Minister's Chef de Cabinet Stanislava Yalamova.