More than 400 businesspeople have given the start of Confindustria Balcani, the Balkan association of Italian companies, at a special ceremony in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.
The ceremony marked the first session ever of Confindustria Balcani, the union of Italian business associations in the Balkan countries, that took place in Sofia on Wednesday.
The brand-new federation brings together Italian entrepreneurs operating in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia,...
Bulgaria's prime minister has described taxes in his country, which has a flat tax applicable for all income levels and one of the lowest effective rates in the world, as "fantastic".
"Bulgaria has at the moment low, favorable, fantastic tax rates. I would have rather expected our employers and businessmen to take every care that nothing bad is said about the government," Boyko Borisov told his ministers, according to the shorthand from their meeting on Wednesday.
"Given the conditions of...
Bulgaria's Varna has hosted the first ever annual conference of the Federation of National Associations of Ship Brokers and Agents (FONASBA) to take place in the Black Sea region.
Over 80 ship brokers from 50 countries have come together for the 41st annual conference of FONASBA taking place in the Golden Sands resort near Varna October 11-15, 2010.
"The international ship transport sector is overcoming the crisis. Each day we say signs that the shipping industry is getting beyond the...
An agreement for the avoidance of double taxation between Bulgaria and Brazil is believed to boost the economic ties between the two countries.
This is the conclusion of a meeting of Bulgaria's Honorary Consul in Brazil Joao Vaz, and the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
An agreement for the encouragement and mutual protection of investments is also said to be very important, should the two countries want to expand their economic exchange.
The BCCI thinks Bulgaria's...
Bulgaria's contract with Russia's Atomstroyexport, commissioned to build the planned 2,000 megawatt Belene nuclear plant on the Danube River, which has stalled over lack of funding, will be extended by six months, reports say.
Negotiations between Bulgaria's National Electricity Company NEK and Russia's Atomstroyexport are underway, but no agreement has been signed yet, local Standart daily reported.
The talks will yield their first results next week, according to the report.
The...
In August, the construction production in Bulgaria is up in comparison to previous month, but is still down on annual basis, statistics show.
According to preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute (NSI), the production in the construction sector increased by 1,6% in August, in comparison to July.
However, the sector registered a decrease of 11,6%, year-on-year.
The August the volume of retail trade, except cars and motorcycles trade, dropped down by 0,3% from the previous...
Bulgaria's export has again registered a substantial growth in August, 2010, on annual basis, data published Monday by the National Statistics Institute shows.
The export was up 32.2% compared to August, 2009, reaching BNG 2.8 B.
In August, Bulgaria has a surplus in its trade balance of BGN 51.4 M, but it has been negative in the first 8 months of the year by BGN 2.6 B.
The export of Bulgarian companies is growing with double digits since the beginning of the year, seen by experts as a...
Bulgaria's Lyulin highway is 82% ready, the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and the Minister on Regional Development, Rosen Plevneliev, have announced.
The two have made an official check on the construction of Lyulin highway on Sunday and announced the launching of new lanes at the Daskalovo road junction, which aim at easing the traffic.
"Half of Lyulin highway was made for six months, while one third of it was made for three years," Borisov said.
In September, the Bulgarian Road...
The German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce has presented to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Sofia a plan for doubling the German investments in Bulgaria and the bilateral trade by 2015.
Mitko Vasilev, Chief Manager of the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DBIHK), presented the "Action Plan 2015" to the German Chancellor at a business forum in Sofia Monday night organized in connection with Merkel's first ever visit to Bulgaria.
Merkel was the keynote speaker...
China has suggested to Bulgaria to increase the marketing and advertising of its goods in China, in order to boost the consumers' interest.
The suggestion was made Monday by Wan Jifei, the Chair of the China Council for the Promotion of International trade.
He is leading a Chinese delegation, which participates in a joint forum with Bulgarian companies, organized by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BTPP).
According to Jifei, Bulgarian producers should participate in...
The number of new cars sold on the Bulgarian in the first nine months of 2010 declined by almost 40% year-on-year.
According to the Association of Car Producers and Importers, a total of 13 189 new cars were sold in Bulgaria in January-September compared with 20 729 in the first three quarters of 2009.
Toyota was the most popular brand on the Bulgarian market of new cars in that period with 1 450 sales, followed by Ford – 1 262, Volkswagen – 1 172, Peugeot – 1 032, Dacia – 912, Citroen –...
The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) has announced the organizing of a Bulgarian business delegation to the USA.
The delegation is expected to go to the US in the second or third week of November 2010.
The Bulgarian businessmen will be on a week-long visit to Cleveland, OH, and one more destination in the US to be selected from Chicago, IL, or Washington, DC.
The delegation is organized as part of the partnership between the BCCI and the Greater Cleveland Partnership,...
Bulgaria's export to non EU states has shown a substantial growth of 50% up to BGN 8.6 B in the first eight months of 2010, according to the National Statistical Institute.
The main trade partners of Bulgaria were Turkey, Serbia, Russia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Singapore, China,and the USA that formed over 54% of the total export to non EU countries.
The exports to China increased by 256.4% and those to Turkey by 65.2%. The exports to Serbia and Russia reported growth...
Bulgaria's export to the other EU member states registered a substantial growth in the first eight months of 2010.
In January-August, it grew by 23.7% compared to the same period of 2009, reaching BGN 11.7 B. At the same time, Bulgaria's import from the EU was BGN 13.5 B, an increase of 5.4%.
In August, the export was up 48.5% compared to August 2009 and reached BGN 1.8 B.
Bulgaria's major EU trading partners remain Italy, Germany, Romania and Greece, which form about 61.3% of its...
Most commercial real estate markets around the world, including Eastern Europe, have passed the bottom and are now on the rise, according to Colliers International Global Investor Sentiment Survey for the third quarter of this year.
A total of 90% of the survey participants said they planned to expand their current level of real estate holdings within a year or as a minimum maintain them at current levels.
The Global Property Clock equates market cycles to specific times, with 12 o'clock...
Bulgaria's successful example with the introduction of flat tax rates is partly the motivation for Hungary to adopt the same policy, according to Hungarian PM Viktor Orban.
Orban spoke in Sofia Friday at a joint press conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.
"Hungary's policies must be directed towards the Hungarian market so that it can pay off its credits, and that is why we are introducing the flat tax following your example, and are reducing in half the taxes on...
Romania's income from foreign tourism is four times smaller than Bulgaria's, Romanian newspaper Ziarul Financiar reports.
In 2009, Romania's revenues from tourism amounted to EUR 882 M, according to the Romanian Statistical Institute. In comparison, Bulgaria's income from foreign tourists was EUR 3.72 B, Hungary made EUR 5.63 B, the Czech Republic – EUR 6.5 B, Croatia – EUR 8.8 B.
The number of foreign tourists who visited Romania in 2009 is five times smaller than the number attracted by...
The Bulgarian government has formally approved a 5-year concession for oil and gas prospecting in a 400 sq.km. area in northeast Bulgaria for North American company Park Place Energy Corp.
Park Place Energy Corp. is registered in the US state of Nevada and based in Calgary and Vancouver, Canada. The area it won to study is said to be very promising.
The company specializes in the extraction of shale gas, a novel and still largely unexplored procedure to capture gas trapped in earth...
Russia's state power trader Inter RAO has been tipped as the most likely buyer of a majority stake in Bulgaria's Maritsa East 3 coal-fired power plant, controlled by Italy's Enel SpA, according to reports.
Inter RAO may be the leading candidate among five bidders interested in Maritza, Italian daily Il Messaggero reported, without citing sources.
According to the report Enel, advised by Deutsche Bank AG, aims to pocked EUR 600 M from the sale and talks are at advanced stage.
Fulvio...
Bulgaria's Black Sea Port Varna has seen its revenues almost triple in the first nine months of 2010, year-on-year.
In January-September, Port Varna processed a total of 5.958 million tonnes of goods and materials, which is 1.112 million tonnes more than in the same period of 2009. About 1.5 million tonnes of these come for the exports of grain.
The greatest increase comes from the transport of grain, ores, coal, fertilizers, non-metalliferous minerals, and container goods, the Transport...
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