“It is an honor for me to meet the people who create employment, because the development of our society depends on the development of the economy. There can be no social change without a strong economy.” With these words, the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev opened today, on 11 December 2018, a meeting at his invitation with the leaders of the nationally representative employers’ organizations - BIA, BICA, BCCI and KRIB.
The main topic of the conversation was the opportunity to intensify the dialogue between the Presidential institution and the employers’ organizations in order to identify the problems and measures for improving the business environment and accelerating the economic growth.
In his speech, the Head of State noted excellent cooperation with employers’ organizations in organizing business forums with potential partners from Romania, Poland, Israel, Armenia, Macedonia, Malta, India and others. As an example of good partnership and understanding of business issues, Rumen Radev also pointed out his refusal to veto the labor migration and energy laws. According to him, good communication and qualitative argumentation are a prerequisite for achieving a balance in the social relations, so as to take the interests of all stakeholders to the maximum and to seek the best solutions for the development of the economy.
“We take this meeting as a good tone in the public contract between the state and the employers,” said Radosvet Radev, President of BIA, and AOBR rotating chairman for 2018. According to him, there is aggressive budgeting against the business towards a continuous increase of the tax and social security burden, which leaves no sufficient free capital for investment in high value added industries. “The business climate is getting worse, the entrepreneurial spirit is lost. In the early 1990s, everyone was trying to develop their own business. Today’s young people want to work in the state administration or in large international corporations, but not to risk as entrepreneurs. Rehabilitation of entrepreneurship is necessary if we want to move further,” Radosvet Radev said and added that without modernizing the economy we will not have a modern Bulgaria. “Europe is making plans for 2030-2050, China - for 2100, and in our country the horizon is about one state mandate,” said the President of BIA.
The participants in the meeting agreed on the regularity of the meetings as well as on the organization of joint events aimed at finding mechanisms for accelerating economic growth.
