Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry Vows Business Focus before AmCham
Diplomacy | January 13, 2012, Friday // 20:26| viewsThe AmCham Bulgaria leadership (left) met with Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov (right). Photo by Foreign Ministry
The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has stressed its commitments to turning the country into an "attractive business destination" during a meeting with the leadership of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Bulgaria.
"We want to make Bulgaria an attractive business destination for foreign investors," Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov told AmCham Bulgaria President Peter Lithgow, Vice-Presidents Atanas Garov and Daniel Berg, and Executive Director Valentin Georgiev in Sofia Friday, as cited by the Foreign Ministry press center.
Bulgaria should be easily accessible for foreign investors and tourists, Minister Mladenov emphasized, adding that the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry is already working on visa liberalization and on increasing the number of countries where visa outsourcing service centers operate.
So far, such centers operate in Russia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain, and the goal of the Bulgarian government is to introduce such services in some of the countries in the Southern African region, Moldova, Ukraine and other places.
According to Mladenov, a decision allowing holders of Schengen visas to travel to Bulgaria without needing a Bulgarian visa will be crucial for that.
AmCham Bulgaria President Lithgow said that active dialogue with government is crucial to ensuring a well-functioning and sustainable business environment; he pointed out that the American Chamber of Commerce is willing to co-operate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish business with countries with which Bulgaria has traditionally good bilateral relations.
Bulgaria's Foreign Minister also told AmCham that diplomacy can help in relations with the Gulf, Middle East and North Africa so that Bulgarian business, including the American Chamber of Commerce, may be supported in entering these new markets. To facilitate this process, the Bulgarian government is arranging the participation of the country in a business forum to be held March in Qatar, at which many Bulgarian companies will be represented.
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