Economic Forum Bulgaria – Kosovo held at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry

“Our cooperation with Kosovo is an important element of the economic cooperation within Europe”, said Tsvetan Simeonov at the opening of a bilateral business forum at BCCI. “At the moment Bulgaria reaping the rewards of its EU membership. It cost us a lot of efforts, but it was worth it. Kosovo can learn from this experience and achieve much more on the road to its European integration”, Simeonov said. He pointed out the extremely good cooperation with Kosovo Chamber of Commerce and the Embassy of the Republic of Kosovo in Sofia, which were co-organizers of the event.

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ms. Ekaterina Zaharieva and the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo Mr. Behgjet Pacolli attended the event.

Minister Zaharieva said that the promotion of economic cooperation between the two countries is one of the goals of her counterpart’s visit to Sofia, which is in response to her recent visit to Pristina. “The governments of both countries need to work for closer links by improving the infrastructure and transport connections. With regard to connectivity, cooperation and bilateral partnerships, the business is a bit ahead of politicians”, said Zaharieva and stressed that bilateral trade is growing every year and 2017 registered a record in commodity exchange.

Minister Pacolli, who has years of entrepreneurial experience before embarking on a political career, encouraged the participants in the forum – more than 30 business representatives from Kosovo and Bulgaria, to take initiative, to seek and create contacts. “The nearly 700 companies from both countries which have already established cooperation are not enough, and neither is the modest trade turnover of around EUR 70 million a year. Perseverance and positive expectations are needed for the business to be successful”, the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo said.

Presentations were made by InvestBulgaria Agency and Kosovo Investment and Enterprise Support Agency. The forum ended with bilateral business meetings.