Dobri Mitrev, Chairman of the Board of BIA
Dear members, partners and friends of the Bulgarian Industrial Association,
Dear readers of Noblesse Oblige magazine,
In 2025 the Bulgarian Industrial Association celebrates 45 years since its establishment. The history of the Association is dotted with good and not so good moments, with obstacles and challenges. Some of them we have forgotten, others we want to forget and others we strive to remember. Having survived all the hardships of economic development, the BIA has in its DNA the reflex not only to survive but to succeed.
For four and a half decades, BIA has achieved quite a few successes in improving the business environment, but the Association's greatest success is that it has managed to preserve its independence and imperviousness to political influences. This gives us the freedom to defend the interests of our members on a principled basis and not on the basis of expediency.
The Bulgarian entrepreneur lives in an aggressive environment, but he is resilient, resistant to storms and able to cope with difficulties. Even in the difficult period of the covid-pandemic, entrepreneurs did not stop developing and drawing their investment plans for the future. Accepting the burden of risking yourself, your idea, your family, your money, your assets, achieving an entrepreneurial goal - it's not everyone's cup of tea. That is why entrepreneurs deserve public recognition and respect - because public assets and public prosperity are created by them, and the economic growth and prosperity of the country is based on their efforts.
This is what gives us the strongest argument when we defend the interests of our members. In this struggle we rely on dialogue, because it is in dialogue that the best and most workable solutions are found. The BIA is among the founders of social dialogue in Bulgaria and, in this capacity, we have a responsibility to actively represent Bulgarian entrepreneurs and employers before state institutions and employee representatives in the best possible way - in a timely and reasoned manner, in a nationally responsible manner, in the search for the best solutions so that a balance of interests is achieved.
It is no secret that Bulgaria needs serious reforms in practically all spheres of social and economic life and without dialogue there is no way to achieve solutions that will have a long-term positive effect. I would like to assure you that BIA will continue to participate in the public discussions with expertise, fairness and objectivity in its assessments. We will continue to work to improve the business environment, preserve the tax and insurance model, stabilise the energy market, develop human resources and improve the labour market. We hope for a reciprocal attitude on the part of the state institutions and the trade unions, because difficult decisions lie ahead and we must all be responsible and help according to our competences and capabilities.
During the last national census of employers' organisations (at the end of 2024) BIA received proxies from over 20,000 enterprises, branch and regional organisations, employing almost 680,000 persons under contract. In this way, we have repeatedly met the criteria for national representation set out in the Labour Code. We take this as a high evaluation of our work, but also as a challenge to make more and more efforts to work to protect the interests of BIA members. I would like to assure our members that in the future our doors and senses will be wide open to the problems they face, the goals they pursue and the successes they achieve.
BIA exists because of and thanks to its members. I believe that unity makes strength, that unity in our big family is a prerequisite to defend even more successfully the interests of Bulgarian employers and industrialists, the people who with their work and sleepless nights ensure the prosperity of Bulgarian society.
On the eve of BIA's 45th anniversary, I would like to thank all our long-standing partners and, most of all, our members, for their honesty and friendship, for their commitment and support! I wish everyone to be healthy, because health and people are the most valuable capital. To the people who risk their peace of mind to create wealth and sustain jobs, I wish them to preserve their energy and faith in the future, not to bend before difficulties and to overcome every obstacle with ease. Most importantly, to keep dreaming, because dreams drive progress!
