Bulgaria and Ukraine are intensifying their economic contacts on the basis of mutually beneficial and open cooperation, it became known at a forum in Sofia

Bulgaria and Ukraine are about to activate the potential of their bilateral economic relations on the basis of mutually beneficial and open cooperation in the context of Ukraine’s recovery from the consequences of the war with Russia taking place on its territory. Cooperation between the private sectors of the two countries will also include entering third country markets based on cooperation rather than competition. The potential will be realized within the European solidarity towards Ukraine.

This was declared by the official political representatives of Bulgaria and Ukraine, who addressed congratulatory addresses to the participants in today’s Bulgarian-Ukrainian business forum with bilateral meetings, in the person of Dimitar Glavchev, Acting Prime Minister of Bulgaria and Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Petko Nikolov, Acting Minister of Economy and Industry, Yulia Sviridenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Viktor Kantsurak, State Secretary at the Ministry of Agricultural Policy of Ukraine and Olesia Ilaschuk, Ambassador of Ukraine to Bulgaria.

Readiness and desire to participate in the process were also declared by the business circles of the two countries, in the person of Tsvetan Simeonov, chairman of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gennadiy Chizhikov, chairman of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

On behalf of the European Commission, Yordanka Chobanova, head of the EC Representation in Bulgaria, was present at the forum.

The event is organized by the Executive Agency for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (IANMSP), together with the Bulgarian-Ukrainian Chamber of Industry and the support of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The forum takes place in the capital’s Hyatt Regency Sofia hotel.

The event aims to expand trade and economic relations between the two countries, as well as to create prerequisites for the establishment of new contacts between entrepreneurs and companies, given the complex and at the same time dynamic situation in Ukraine. Among the topics discussed today is that of post-war recovery and the opportunities that European funds will provide to Ukraine for the reconstruction of the country’s economy and infrastructure.

Representatives of 30 Ukrainian companies are present at the forum, and 60 are registered from the Bulgarian side.

The intensifying economic and business ties between Bulgaria and Ukraine are based not only on the traditionally good relations between them, but also on the comprehensive support that Bulgaria has provided to Ukraine since 2014. This support was highlighted both by the Bulgarian and Ukrainian participants of the forum. And in his address, read by the executive director of the IANMSP – Boyko Takov, acting Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev assured the Ukrainian representatives that Bulgaria will continue to provide consistent and comprehensive support, according to its capabilities.

“We will continue to do it as long as necessary”, were the words of Glavchev.

Today’s forum is also a result of the visit to Sofia of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the fall of 2023 and this year’s visit to Kyiv of the Speaker of the National Assembly Rosen Zhelyazkov.

“Does it make sense to talk about the reconstruction and restoration of Ukraine right now? The categorical answer is “Yes”. This process has already started and is taking place in Ukraine with the support and efforts of Ukrainians, Ukrainian companies and public institutions to restore what can be restored. But huge investments will be needed – public and private. Public funds will not be enough, and the mobilized and active participation of the private sector will be very important,” said Yordanka Chobanova from the EC Representation in Sofia.

“We are ready to offer a contribution to the processes of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. A special emphasis for Bulgaria is the efforts to support the efforts to restore the energy infrastructure of Ukraine. More than 80 Bulgarian companies in the sector are ready to join projects for the restoration of power plants, including nuclear power plants, power transmission networks and gas infrastructure,” said Dimitar Glavchev in his congratulatory address, adding that the country can participate in Ukraine’s digital and energy transition.

Acting Minister of Economy Petko Nikolov announced that the Ministry of Economy and Industry will assist in recognizing business interest in its future participation in the initiatives to revive the Ukrainian economy and infrastructure.

The currently identified areas for deepening economic and business cooperation between Bulgaria and Ukraine include the sectors of construction, food and processing industry, energy, transport and logistics, agriculture, pharmaceutical industry and information technology.

Yulia Sviridenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, in a video address to the participants of the forum, assured future investors from the Bulgarian side that the recovery of Ukraine’s industry is a priority of national policy, so as to increase the processing capacity of the country and the potential of its non-raw exports.

She also briefly presented Ukraine’s incentive measures such as insurances, including against military risks, to support infrastructure investments and access to land and a reduced tax regime.

“I invite the Bulgarian business to join the conference we are organizing in Berlin,” urged Yulia Sviridenko at the end of her address.

And her deputy, Taras Kachka, announced in turn that the trade regime between the two countries will be as open as possible, working towards a regime of free access to the local market.

A sphere of particular interest for Ukraine, in which Bulgaria was called upon to get involved, is trade and logistics and, more precisely, providing assistance for the transfer of Ukrainian production across the Black Sea. This was pointed out both by Ambassador Olesia Ilaschuk and also by Gennady Chizhikov, Chairman of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

“Bulgaria has a key role in the transfer of production across the Black Sea”, emphasized Ambassador Ilaschuk, and Gennadiy Chizhikov made the following appeal to the Bulgarian business circles: “Let’s make money from exporting this production”.

In addition, Chizhikov assured the participants of the forum that Ukraine does not seek to compete with Bulgarian agricultural producers, emphasizing the possibility of cooperation in entering the markets of third countries.

Staying in the field of agriculture, Viktor Kantsurak, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agricultural Policy of Ukraine, announced that the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs of Ukraine and the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture and Food are in continuous communication.

“Our relations with the Ukrainian trade and industrial fabric have never been suspended,” Tsvetan Simeonov from the BTPP addressed the participants in turn and added that the best indicator of good bilateral relations is the three-fold increase in trade between them, where the goal, according to the words of Ambassador Ilaschuk, is to double in the next two years.

Simeonov expressed particular satisfaction with the presence at the forum of representatives from the Ukrainian dairy industry.