Turkey is one of our most significant partners in various fields, the country is one of our key foreign trade partners, the exchange of goods reaches record levels. This was said by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Investments and Industry Alexander Pulev in his welcome address at the fifth edition of the Balkan Business Forum, which is taking place in Bansko. There are more than 2,200 companies with Turkish capital, which are key employers in different regions of our country, companies, industries that provide livelihoods for thousands of families, he added.
Regarding Turkish companies in Bulgaria, Pulev pointed out that they are a critical tool for overcoming regional imbalances and added that they can count on the full support of the ministry.
This is not a new message, we will continue in the same spirit to support and encourage all relations between our peoples, and behind these statistics are people, interactions, interpersonal relations, there is a trust that we have built on the basis of many years and a spirit of friendship, which is the most important component and prerequisite for success from now on, Pulev added.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Investments and Industry also said that he has supported various editions of the Balkan Business Forum and the message has always been the same - Turkey is one of the most important strategic partners of our country. The message is the same, but now it sounds much stronger because it comes from a stable regular government, Pulev pointed out and added that the executive branch has experts and people from the team with a “strong reformist will“ and a desire to promote strategic projects, including with a main focus on regional interaction and strengthening the dialogue with Turkey.
In connection with the relations between the two countries, Alexander Pulev gave an example from a period when he was the acting Minister of Innovation and Growth – the launch of a business forum in Burgas, aimed at promoting industrial interaction between the two countries. He pointed out that in addition to economic issues, another topic dominated everyday life then – about the strong earthquake that shook Turkey in February 2023. “Bulgaria was then the first country to show solidarity, to show full support, humanitarian and any other assistance was provided as a priority to our Turkish friends, and this is proof that in fact there is a spirit of friendship, of solidarity between our countries, which many times exceeds economic goals, benefits and advantages“, Pulev pointed out.
The Deputy Prime Minister also commented on yesterday's high-level meetings – the meeting of Prime Minister Rumen Radev with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Hakan Fidan and the meeting of Fidan with the Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Velislava Petrova.
I believe that a very strong direction was set, we are talking about the traditionally good sectors where we interact critically - energy, transport, but other priority sectors for us were also opened for interaction, we are now talking about the common security of the regions, we are talking about trilateral cooperation - Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, so that we can ensure the security of the Black Sea basin, Pulev pointed out.
Our administration is available and you can count on a sustainable, correct and professional behavior, so that we can continue to develop, to open the portfolio for much larger-scale, much more ambitious projects, the Deputy Prime Minister also said and pointed out that this includes energy infrastructure, transport connectivity, strengthening regional ties, which will make the Balkans a more competitive place for doing business.
The Balkan Business Forum is organized by the Bulgarian-Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BULTISAD) in partnership with the Bulgarian-Romanian Chamber of Commerce, with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Bulgaria, the Council for Foreign Economic Relations of Turkey (DEİK), the Executive Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (BSMEPA) and the Bulgarian Investment Agency (BIA).