Bulgarian Foreign Min Glorifies Govt Visit to Qatar, Denies Fiasco

The visit of several Bulgarian Ministers to Qatar that ends on Thursday has been extremely successful, the country's Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov has claimed.

According to Mladenov, it has been "the most successful visit in terms of lobbying for Bulgaria's business that we have ever done."

The Foreign Minister disagreed with the criticism on behalf of business representatives that the governmental visits to Tunisia and Qatar have been badly organized, explaining the region's weak interest towards Bulgarian companies with the country "not being well known there."

Qatar will invest at least EUR 100 M in three Bulgarian sectors – tourism, infrastructure and agriculture, Mladenov pointed out in an interview for the Bulgarian National Radio.

On Wednesday, Qatari investors snubbed the opening of the forum's opening, as only Bulgarians could be seen in the showroom for the forum's launch by Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov.

The awkward situation apparently prompted Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Muhammad Al Thani to change on the go his schedule so that he can open the forum in the evening.

The fact that Qatari business representatives failed to show up has been widely regarded as a fiasco by Bulgarian media.

"If you believe that EUR 100 M of investments in Bulgaria is a wild goose chase, you are welcome to comment on things anyway you want to. I don't want to enter this crazy dialogue that was started by the Bulgarian media," Mladenov said.

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