Balkan Business Summit brought together over 250 business representatives

Over 250 business representatives from Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey gathered at the Balkan Business Summit, which took place on June 7th  and 8th in Bansko.

The forum, organized by BULTISAD-Bulgarian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Bulgarian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce in partnership with DEİK - Foreign Economic Relations Board, included two panels - "Trade and Investment Opportunities in the Balkans" and "Technology, Innovation, Regulatory framework and funding".

The Balkan Business Summit is the first joint initiative between the two chambers, which aims to reveal the untapped potential for investment in Eastern and Central Europe.

In his welcome speech at the beginning of the event, the Chairman of BULTISAD-Bulgarian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce - Burhan Nemutlu noted that more than half of the companies with Turkish capital in Bulgaria are members of the organization, and it has been operating extremely successfully since 2012.

Mehmet Sait Uyanak, ambassador of Turkey in Sofia, said that there is great potential for the development of the Bulgarian-Turkish relations in all areas. "Trade relations between Bulgaria and Turkey are constantly developing and the trade volume is increasing. Turkish businessmen have invested here over 2.5 billion euros," he added.

For his part, the Chairman of the Bulgarian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce Atty. Victor Gugushev shared that Romania is Bulgaria's second largest trading partner and, for Romania, our country is in the top 5 for them. The message he delivered from the stage was for unity between the countries of the Balkans, creating more partnerships and supporting business. In our two organizations alone there are 400 member-companies, and their employees are nearly 100,000. This is a large scale, it is a force that can move the economy forward, added Adv. Gugushev.

"There are 2,500 Turkish companies operating in Bulgaria, which provide 4,500 jobs. In some parts of our country, people are living thanks to the employment provided by Turkish investors," Deputy Minister of Innovation and Growth Krasimir Yakimov said in his speech.

Zeki Saribekir, Chairman of the Turkish-Bulgarian Business Council of DEİK, said: "Today, when you ask the 85 million people in Turkey on the street, 'Which is the neighboring country?', they answer 'Bulgaria.' Bulgaria is our gateway to Europe as well as to the world".

Kubra Orakcioglu Kazan, Chairman of the Foreign Investment Council of DEİK, emphasized that the trade volume between Bulgaria and Turkey is growing, but there is still potential for development.

Boyko Takov - Executive Director of BSMEPA, Mila Nenova - Executive Director of IBA, Eleonora Ivanova - Executive Director of the Bulgarian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce, diplomats from Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania, as well as business representatives took part in the discussion panels of the forum.

Media partners of the event were SeeNext, Lider.bg, Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), BNR.