On 16 April 2019, a meeting between representatives of the Iranian business and the management of the Bulgarian Industrial Association took place at BIA, where the opportunities for development of trade and economic relations between Bulgaria and Iran were discussed.
The meeting was attended by the Vice Presidents of BIA Dimiter Brankov and Petar Denev, the Director of the International Economic Relations Center at BIA Veselin Iliev, the President of the Iranian-Bulgarian Business Association (IBBA), Mr. Saeid Hadei, Mr. Amir Hadei, member of the Managing board of IBBA, Mr. Hossein Selahvarzi, Vice President of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, and the Economic Counsellor to the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mr. Ali Akbar Rezaei.
Main topics of discussion were economic relations in the context of US sanctions against Iran, opportunities for barter trade and the special financial mechanism for payment between Europe and Iran INSTEX. Mr. Rezaei noted that in 2018 the trade between Bulgaria and Iran amounted to 90 million dollars. This indicator, albeit small in absolute terms, shows that there is a mutual business interest, even in terms of embargoes and limitations on payments.
Iranian entrepreneurs show considerable interest in Bulgarian technologies and scientific achievements in the extraction and processing of rose oil. Dimiter Brankov presented the contribution of BIA in the environmental sector - fifteen best available techniques developed by the experts in the Clean Industry Center for the use of solvents, incl. and in the extraction of vegetable oils.
The recent developments in the livestock and dairy sector have opened up to the Bulgarian producers and the expansion of the market and the territory of Afghanistan and Iraq. Other sectors that offer opportunities for joint venture include industrial and residential construction, where Iran has long-standing traditions, transport, machine building, tourism, food, cosmetics, tobacco, and more.
Representatives of IBBA invited members of BIA to participate in the Bulgarian-Iranian Business Forum with bilateral meetings on 18 April 2019.
The participants in the meeting expressed their willingness to continue their active cooperation and exchange of information of mutual interest.
