Antoaneta Bares, Executive Director of NCIZ presented the industrial zones to the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations
Antoaneta Bares, CEO of National Company Industrial Zones (NCIZ) presented the advantages of the industrial zones, operated by the company and the opportunities they provide to the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations. The organization has 65 years of history and represents the interests of more than 200 German companies in 21 countries in Eastern Europe.
During a meeting with the Committee's Executive Director Michael Harms, Antoaneta Bares pointed out that Economic Zone Sofia-Bozhurishte has already attracted several large German investments. The Zone is one of the company's most rapidly evolving projects. A clear indication as to the potential it has and the opportunities it provides is the fact that one of these investors has now announced its plans to double the initial investment made. Investors in the zones operated by NCIZ benefit from various incentives under the Investment Promotion Act. They have access to infrastructure, full support at every stage of their investment, including at institutional level and, last but not least, a strategic location that provides quick access to major transport corridors.
Michael Harms pointed out that the German business puts great interest in the Eastern European countries, especially in Bulgaria. He stressed that the availability of modern infrastructure is a determining factor, even with a greater weight than the offered tax reliefs, for investors to implement their projects in our country. At this stage, there's also particular interest of a large German company to locate its business in Bulgaria. The Committee is due to provide more information on the investor's specific requirements and the parameters of the investment project, which would allow NCIZ to assist them in finding the most suitable location for its implementation.
The two Executive Directors also agreed on further promoting the opportunities in the industrial zones, operated by NCIZ among the Committe members. To this end, specialized publications will be organized in the next issue of the organization's newsletter. In addition, a dedicated presentation of NCIZ will be featured at the upcoming conference "10 years of Bulgaria in the EU", which will take place in Berlin in November.
The meeting between Antoaneta Bares and Michael Harms is a natural continuation of the talks of the Committee's Executive Director with the Minister of Economy Emil Karanikolov and Deputy Minister Alexander Manolev in the beginning of September. The current state of billateral trade was praised by both parties as it reached record heights of 6,637 billion euros in 2016. Expectations are figures will go even higher in 2017. Discussions focused on the prospects for future investments and the interest shown by German companies in the sphere of transport infrastructure, machine building, production of automotive parts and components, high technologies, food and beverage industry, etc.
The Executive Director of NCIZ is on a visit in Berlin as part of a Bulgarian delegation, organized by the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Industry and Commerce.