Whether it was because in 1894 then-Bulgarian prime minister
Konstantin Stoilov vowed to turn the newly independent state into the
"Belgium of the Orient", or because Bulgaria was part of Belgium's
global business offensive, Belgium was the largest trade partner and
investor in Bulgaria's nascent economy until the outbreak of World War
1.
In 1898, Ernest Solvay, the famed founder of Belgian industrial conglomerate Solvay, opened the Sofia-based sugar-making plant, Bulgaria's first. With it, he laid the foundations not only of sugar production but also of sugar beet cultivation in Bulgaria. Belgian investors financed the construction of what remains the country's flagship match-making plant in Kostenets. Belgians, again, were majority shareholders and operators of Sofia's first electric and tram companies, as well as of, among other enterprises, a score of banks and leather-production plants.
A century later, history repeated itself. Since the early 1990s, both commercial give-and-take and investment flows have grown exponentially. Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Ministry has named Solvay Bulgaria's largest strategic producer for its portfolio of soda, salt and limestone processing assets. Belgium is invariably in the top 10 of Bulgaria's trade partners and investors. Last year it was Bulgaria's ninth-largest trade partner. By size of investments in the period 1996/2005, it ranked sixth.
This was an era marking renewed and growing interest, seen in Bulgarian-Belgian statistics available on the Bulgarian Economy and Energy Ministry website. The volume of exported and imported services recorded advances against the year before, with the only retreats in absolute terms being 1996, 1997 and 2001 for exports and 1996, 1999 and 2000 for imports.
In 2007 alone, according to the National Statistical Institute (NSI), bilateral trade turnover surged 22.2 per cent on the year to 2.394 billion leva in what was an 18-year high. The year before, turnover achieved a 32.4 per cent annual increase, yet statisticians attributed the "slowing" pace in 2007 to the higher 2006 benchmark rather than to flagging interest.
In contrast to dynamics with most Western European states, Bulgaria has continually run a trade surplus with Belgium. Bulgarian experts attributed the positive trade-off mainly to the intense export activity of Belgian-owned plants.
Although, in absolute terms, the margin has been expanding by the year, growth rates of imports and exports vary in a broad range and lend leadership to neither, according to NSI data. While in 2006 exports rose by 32.4 per cent on the year, imports were up 16.7 per cent. In a 2007 reversal, imports outpaced exports, each reporting an increase of, respectively, 82.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent.
Bulgaria-bound investments, too, have not seen a steady flow in the years, largely because formed by large-scale projects, Bulgarian and Belgian politicians and economic experts admit. The reason was that Bulgaria, prior to its accession to the European Union, remained an untested risk-prone ground that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Belgium had been unprepared to conquer. SMEs' apprehension persisted even though Belgium has since implemented among the most efficient mechanisms in the EU to hedge export loans and investments in Bulgaria. The state-run insurer Ducroir/Delcredere SA.NV, for example, has placed Bulgaria in a category that allows Belgian investors insurance coverage of their entire investment, no matter the size and provided that the project has been given the official go-ahead.
This trend, however, witnessed a stark shift in 2007, the year when Bulgaria entered the EU. In 2007 alone, Bulgaria attracted 779.8 million euro in investments from Belgium and Luxembourg, the total investment spending in 2000/2007 being 1.025 billion euro, according to Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) data.
The unprecedented investment spurt attests to a forecast that Prince Philippe, the French heir to the Belgian throne, made at the end of 2006. Speaking to a Belgian-Bulgarian economic mission in Sofia, Philippe predicted that a second Belgian investment wave would be triggered by the foray of small and medium-sized businesses into a Bulgaria made more secure by being an EU member.
Nonetheless, the landmark investors in Bulgaria remain the long-timers. Copper giant Cumerio (formerly Umicore) holds top spot with an investment worth $233.6 million in Pirdop copper smelting plant. Chemicals concern Solvay is second with $210.5 million investment backlog in soda-making plant Sodi Devnya, Devnya thermal power plant, Provadia-based salt maker Geosol and a limestone extraction plant in the village of Chernevo.
Brewer Interbrew, owned by InBev, the owner of Kamenitza AD, Astika Haskovo, Plevensko Pivo AD and Burgasko Pivo AD, places third with $50.9 million in promised and $11 million in implemented investments.
Electronic components maker Epiq Group is third. Its subsidiary SensorNight alone has invested 20 million euro in its Botevgrad-based factories.
Currently, 62 Belgian companies active in the chemical, food, textile and high-tech sectors operate in Bulgaria and together have a total of 15 000 staff on their payrolls.
(overgenomen van Sofia Echo)
In 1898, Ernest Solvay, the famed founder of Belgian industrial conglomerate Solvay, opened the Sofia-based sugar-making plant, Bulgaria's first. With it, he laid the foundations not only of sugar production but also of sugar beet cultivation in Bulgaria. Belgian investors financed the construction of what remains the country's flagship match-making plant in Kostenets. Belgians, again, were majority shareholders and operators of Sofia's first electric and tram companies, as well as of, among other enterprises, a score of banks and leather-production plants.
A century later, history repeated itself. Since the early 1990s, both commercial give-and-take and investment flows have grown exponentially. Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Ministry has named Solvay Bulgaria's largest strategic producer for its portfolio of soda, salt and limestone processing assets. Belgium is invariably in the top 10 of Bulgaria's trade partners and investors. Last year it was Bulgaria's ninth-largest trade partner. By size of investments in the period 1996/2005, it ranked sixth.
This was an era marking renewed and growing interest, seen in Bulgarian-Belgian statistics available on the Bulgarian Economy and Energy Ministry website. The volume of exported and imported services recorded advances against the year before, with the only retreats in absolute terms being 1996, 1997 and 2001 for exports and 1996, 1999 and 2000 for imports.
In 2007 alone, according to the National Statistical Institute (NSI), bilateral trade turnover surged 22.2 per cent on the year to 2.394 billion leva in what was an 18-year high. The year before, turnover achieved a 32.4 per cent annual increase, yet statisticians attributed the "slowing" pace in 2007 to the higher 2006 benchmark rather than to flagging interest.
In contrast to dynamics with most Western European states, Bulgaria has continually run a trade surplus with Belgium. Bulgarian experts attributed the positive trade-off mainly to the intense export activity of Belgian-owned plants.
Although, in absolute terms, the margin has been expanding by the year, growth rates of imports and exports vary in a broad range and lend leadership to neither, according to NSI data. While in 2006 exports rose by 32.4 per cent on the year, imports were up 16.7 per cent. In a 2007 reversal, imports outpaced exports, each reporting an increase of, respectively, 82.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent.
Bulgaria-bound investments, too, have not seen a steady flow in the years, largely because formed by large-scale projects, Bulgarian and Belgian politicians and economic experts admit. The reason was that Bulgaria, prior to its accession to the European Union, remained an untested risk-prone ground that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Belgium had been unprepared to conquer. SMEs' apprehension persisted even though Belgium has since implemented among the most efficient mechanisms in the EU to hedge export loans and investments in Bulgaria. The state-run insurer Ducroir/Delcredere SA.NV, for example, has placed Bulgaria in a category that allows Belgian investors insurance coverage of their entire investment, no matter the size and provided that the project has been given the official go-ahead.
This trend, however, witnessed a stark shift in 2007, the year when Bulgaria entered the EU. In 2007 alone, Bulgaria attracted 779.8 million euro in investments from Belgium and Luxembourg, the total investment spending in 2000/2007 being 1.025 billion euro, according to Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) data.
The unprecedented investment spurt attests to a forecast that Prince Philippe, the French heir to the Belgian throne, made at the end of 2006. Speaking to a Belgian-Bulgarian economic mission in Sofia, Philippe predicted that a second Belgian investment wave would be triggered by the foray of small and medium-sized businesses into a Bulgaria made more secure by being an EU member.
Nonetheless, the landmark investors in Bulgaria remain the long-timers. Copper giant Cumerio (formerly Umicore) holds top spot with an investment worth $233.6 million in Pirdop copper smelting plant. Chemicals concern Solvay is second with $210.5 million investment backlog in soda-making plant Sodi Devnya, Devnya thermal power plant, Provadia-based salt maker Geosol and a limestone extraction plant in the village of Chernevo.
Brewer Interbrew, owned by InBev, the owner of Kamenitza AD, Astika Haskovo, Plevensko Pivo AD and Burgasko Pivo AD, places third with $50.9 million in promised and $11 million in implemented investments.
Electronic components maker Epiq Group is third. Its subsidiary SensorNight alone has invested 20 million euro in its Botevgrad-based factories.
Currently, 62 Belgian companies active in the chemical, food, textile and high-tech sectors operate in Bulgaria and together have a total of 15 000 staff on their payrolls.
(overgenomen van Sofia Echo)
