Bulgarian – Turkish Business Forum held in Istanbul enjoyed great interest from the business circles

A Bulgarian – Turkish Business Forum, organized in cooperation by the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK), the Bulgarian SME Promotion Agency, the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Bulgarian – Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with the assistance of the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Sofia and the Bulgarian Consulate in Istanbul, was held in Istanbul and enjoyed great interest from Bulgarian and Turkish companies and business organizations with nearly 400 participants.

The Bulgarian Minister of Economy Emil Karanikolov and the Deputy Minister of Economy of Turkey Fatih Metin addressed the participants in the forum. According to Minister Karanikolov the forum demonstrated the common will and desire for even more dynamic dialogue and more intensive and large-scale development of the relations between Bulgaria and Turkey.

In his opening speech to the forum, the President of BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov supported his counterpart Osman Ak, Chairman of the Turkish – Bulgarian Economic Council, in the position that serious work is needed to improve the services at the border points between Bulgaria and Turkey during the transportation of goods between the two countries. Simeonov reminded of the possibility the processing of the goods at the border to be held by joint teams on both sides, which will reduce the border-crossing time in half and will solve the problem of goods crossing the two borders being declared at different prices in order to circumvent customs and tax regulations.

The President of BCCI noted the Chamber’s excellent cooperation with the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK), the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), the Chambers of Commerce of Bursa, Izmir, Çanakkale, Edirne, BALKANTÜRKSİAD, the Bulgarian – Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and other joint organizations. “The role of the regional chambers of commerce and industry in the Turkish-border regions is of utmost importance for the expansion of the bilateral relations,” Simeonov added.

The participants in the event asked many questions to which the President of BCCI Tsvetan Simeonov, Gabriela Kozareva, Executive Director of the Bulgarian SME Promotion Agency, Fikret Ince, Chairman of the Bulgarian – Turkish Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Turkish companies participating in the forum which have successfully worked and invested in Bulgaria, including Kastamonu Entegre, Alcomet, Sarten, Akgün, replied.

The forum continued with bilateral business meetings with great interest from both sides.