IRANIAN BUSINESS DELEGATION VISITED BIA TODAY

An Iranian business delegation from West Azerbaijan Province headed by the Governor General, Mr. Vahid Jalalzadeh, visited BIA on 19 September 2011.

The delegation was welcomed by Mr. Kamen Kolev, Vice President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association, Mr. Veselin Iliev, Chief Director of the International Economic Relations Office and Mr. Veselin Manov, Senior Expert at the same department.

Mr. Kolev addressed the delegation and introduced them to BIA's activity and the business environment in Bulgaria in general. Mr. Iliev presented the current state of the bipartite exchange of goods in brief and pointed out that the direct contacts between businessmen from the two countries are still relatively weak. The trade is more often than not executed through middlemen from Turkey which sometimes leads to certain obstacles in closing the deals.

Mr. Jalalzadeh thanked for being warmly welcomed and introduced the economic development in the province, by highlighting the importance of agriculture, foods industry and mining industry. It is namely through West Azerbaijan Province that the main road to Europe passes. The Governor General stressed out that there are very good opportunities for enhancing the cooperation between businessmen from the two countries and went on by saying that Bulgaria is the closest European state to Iran and could function as a so-called "gateway" for the Iranian goods and investments in Europe. Mr. Jalalzadeh invited a Bulgarian business delegation to visit West Azerbaijan Province. He further asked BIA to inform its members about the present meeting and to invite them to take part in a Bulgarian - Iranian business forum which is to take place on 20 September 2011 in the city of Varna.

Both parties expressed willingness to tighten the contacts and to support Bulgarian and Iranian businessmen in establishing contacts and implementing joint projects.