BCCI wishes Bulgarian business to be stimulated through diplomatic means
At a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikolay Mladenov, the President of BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov discussed issues related to the possibility to support the members of the Chamber on the basis of cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria.
Mr. Simeonov stressed out that the business relies on better relations between diplomacy and economy. Bulgarian companies are in constant need of information, assistance or advice in order to do business abroad. Bulgarian diplomats may assist their activity in order to encourage and increase Bulgarian exports. Information from the specialized publications of the Chamber will be available to Bulgarian diplomats, especially in countries in which there no Bulgarian commercial and economic representation offices.
Minister Mladenov and the President of BCCI exchanged information to clarify the needs of Bulgarian companies operating on or targeted at foreign markets. The regions of great interest for Bulgarian companies were discussed, as well as events aimed at promoting international contacts – business trips, delegations, exhibitions. With regard to this, a large national exhibition of Bulgaria will be held in Qatar in the period 13th -15th March 2012. The exhibition will be accompanied by a number of business meetings and initiatives, in which representatives of the state and businesspeople will take part. BCCI offered its full assistance to organize and execute the events in Qatar.
During the meeting the hardships met by foreign businesspeople willing to obtain Bulgarian visas was discussed. Sometimes administrative burdens become a reason for large and renowned foreign partners to choose neighbour countries over Bulgaria as a place for business, Mr. Simeonov said. Minister Mladenov announced that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken steps towards facilitation of the visa regime. Since the beginning of the year, Bulgarian embassies have been authorized to issue Bulgarian visas with validity up to 1 year, which reduces the time for visa approval. In a few months, foreign citizens which have Schengen visas will be able to enter Bulgaria without a special Bulgarian entry visa.
Outsourcing has already been introduced in the application for Bulgarian visas – through an intermediary in the countries without Bulgarian Consular Offices. Minister Mladenov gave Russia as an example – the system was implemented last year and there has been a significant increase of the number of Russians visiting Bulgaria. For the past 3 months, the same scheme has been applied in the Gulf as well – candidates for Bulgarian visas contact a company – intermediary, which arranges the necessary documents. This helps save time and avoid the subjective factor.
It was mentioned that additional incentives are envisaged for citizens of neighbour countries applying for business visas. Mr. Simeonov explained that the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its foreign partners may guarantee the reliability of certain companies which apply for Bulgarian visas and that in these cases the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be informed.
