Today, June 28, 2023, the president of the Bulgarian Industrial Association Dobri Mitrev and the vice president Maria Mincheva held a working meeting with the newly appointed Bulgarian ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - Pavlin Todorov.
The purpose of the meeting was to exchange information on the possibilities for partnership and development of Bulgarian-Vietnamese economic relations.
"Bulgarian companies do not know the market in Vietnam. Efforts should be focused on holding bilateral business meetings so that companies can get a better idea of the huge untapped potential in a number of sectors - food and pharmaceutical industry, vegetable and essential oils, nitrogen and synthetic fertilizers, engineering, tourism," said the president of BIA.
The participants in the meeting agreed that targeted and in-depth work with companies from the Asian region is needed. Working together with the Offices of Trade and Economic Affairs to provide concentrated information on the positioning of foreign markets is part of the process of promoting the search of companies for international cooperation. By focusing on this aspect, overcoming the traditionally negative trade balance with Vietnam over the past three decades is also possible.
The problem of labor shortage was also discussed during the meeting. The good contacts established between Bulgaria and Vietnam in the period before 1989, when about 30 thousand Vietnamese citizens were educated in Bulgarian higher schools and specialized and worked in our country, are a prerequisite for strengthening cooperation in the field of labor supply. The competition in the import of labor from neighboring countries such as Romania and Greece is great, but the traditional relationships, the achievement of the integration of the workers and the favorable living and working conditions in our country are an advantage that must be taken into account.
The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement has facilitated trade by eliminating tariffs on essential goods, reducing red tape and opening Vietnam's market to EU service exports in various sectors. Pavlin Todorov confirmed the favorable influence at the political level and of the Investment Protection Agreement between the EU and Vietnam, which is about to enter into force, on improving the investment climate and providing more security to European and Vietnamese investors. As a good example, Mr. Todorov pointed to the company "Agria", a member of BIA, which has successfully positioned itself on the market of synthetic fertilizers in Vietnam and Cambodia.
It is expected that the new ambassador will officially take up the post at the beginning of August 2023. This is Pavlin Todorov's first ambassadorial mandate.
