Minister Nikolov: Greece ranks fourth among Bulgaria's foreign trade partners

Greece is an important partner of Bulgaria, occupying the fourth place among the foreign trade partners of our country. This was stated by the Minister of Economy and Industry, Dr. Petko Nikolov, in his speech at the opening of the Bulgarian-Greek business forum, which was held at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Sofia. The forum was attended by representatives of the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as nearly 80 companies from the sectors of high technology, tourism, ICT, food and beverage industry, construction, etc. The event was also attended by the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Tsvetan Simeonov and the ambassador of Greece to our country H.E. Alexios Marios Liberopoulos.

Minister Nikolov pointed out that economic relations with Greece are developing positively, and in recent years bilateral trade has remained at record levels. According to him, in 2023, the exchange of goods between the two countries has reached over 4.6 billion euros, and in the current year, only for the period January - June 2024, it amounts to nearly 2.5 billion euros. The Minister of Economy and Industry emphasized that these data confirm the unlimited opportunities for growth that Bulgaria and Greece can achieve in their economic cooperation.

"Greece is also one of the strategic investors in our country. The amount of Greek investments in Bulgaria at the beginning of 2024 amounts to more than 3.5 billion euros, and for the first quarter of 2024 alone, they amount to nearly 80 million euros," Minister Nikolov said.

According to him, the full accession of Bulgaria to Schengen will reduce the time and costs of physical movement of the tourist flow between the two countries, will facilitate trade and transactions, as well as border, customs and tax control. "Bulgaria appreciates Greece's consistent support in this regard and is convinced that Greek business and the Greek government will continue to support the Bulgarian side at the European level as well, which will have a positive impact on bilateral trade and investment flows," Nikolov pointed out. He added that in this context, the Bulgarian and Greek governments should continue the development and modernization of the road and railway infrastructure between the two countries, which will strengthen the positive effect of Bulgaria's full accession to Schengen and lead to significant economic growth.

"The Bulgarian government believes that a common challenge for Bulgaria and Greece as EU member states is to work to achieve the goals of the "Digital Decade 2030" - the European program, one of the four pillars of which is connectivity," Nikolov pointed out, adding, that close cooperation and the exchange of ideas and good practices at government and business level are extremely important to support the process of drawing up the national strategic road maps to fulfill the goals of the Digital Decade.