Investing in your future EUROPEAN UNION OP “Development of the Competitiveness of the Bulgarian European Regional Economy” 2007-2013 Development Fund Project “Promoting the advantages of investing in Bulgaria” BG 161PO003-4.1.01-0001-C0001, with beneficiary InvestBulgaria Agency, has been implemented with the financial support of the European Union through the European Fund for Regional Development and the national budget of the Republic of Bulgaria. Invest In BulgarIa Content 1. Introduction 4 2. general overview of Bulgaria 8 2.1. Geography 10 2.2. Demographic profile 16 2.3. Main cities 18 2.4. History 28 2.5. Political profile 40 2.6. Economic profile 42 3. Human resources 52 3.1. Universities 56 3.2. Schools 64 4. Cost of doing business 68 4.1. Taxes 70 4.2. Salaries 71 4.3. Land and rents 72 4.4. Utilities 74 5. Infrastructure 76 6. government support 84 7. Key sectors and success stories 90 7.1. Food and beverage industry 92 7.2. IT 106 7.3. Electrical engineering and electronics 122 7.4. Healthcare and medical tourism 136 7.5. BPO 144 7.6. Mechanical engineering 154 7.7. Transport and logistics 166 7.8. Chemistry and related industries 174 7.9. Other sectors 190 8. other information 194 Introduction Bulgaria stands for a critical mass of highly-qualified, well- educated professionals who bring together proven practical understanding of business with high-level theoretical skills to deliver efficient, cost -effective international solutions. A. T. Kearney The three factors which contributed to a decision in favor of Bulgaria as a place to invest included: access to our core raw material, country’s geographic location and the current tax situation. Ingrid Janker, CEO, Knauf Bulgaria Bulgaria is the only country in the EU with a credit rating upgrade by Moody’s since the beginning of 2010. Bulgaria has the lowest government debt in the European Union (18.9 % of GDP) and one of the lowest budget deficits (-0.5%) as of 2012. 4 Introduction Bulgaria offers a good mix of high skills, fairly low labor costs and good production quality. Accelerance Substantial EU funding available following Bulgaria’s EU accession. Business Monitor International The investment conditions here are wonderful. The country has large capacity to produce raw materials locally. Achille Bardelli Member of the Board of Directors of Orgachim, one of the first investors in the chemical industry in Bulgaria D-check is the most comprehensive and pedantic check for the aircraft serviceability. It is also known as Heavy Maintenance Visit (HMV). Usually, such a check takes between 21 and 60 days depending on the aircraft and the number of the technicians. Lufthansa Technik Sofia managed to perform only within 16 days the quickest D1 check on Airbus A320 among the whole group of 31 companies. 5 Introduction Customers of the Bulgarian companies are world industry leaders such as BMW, Renault, Peugeot, Ford, Audi. For example, cylinder heads for 6-cylinder V-engine Audi are produced exclusively by Montupet plant in Bulgaria. In 2010 Bulgaria became one of the six target logistics centers of HP worldwide which provide customer services and outsourcing of IT and software operations. Bulgaria hosts Europe’s biggest synthetic soda ash plant and the biggest oil refinery on the Balkans. Bulgaria was the world’s largest producer and exporter of lavender oil in 2011 and also is among the top 15 producers of buffalo and sheep milk in the world. Bulgaria ranks second in Europe after Iceland in the number of the mineral springs, providing all types of mineral water existing in nature. 6 Introduction …If you want first-class mathematicians, try looking in Bulgaria. William Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Harvard College Bulgaria, Romania and other locations in the outskirts of Europe are playing a new twist in the craze for sending technology development offshore. Business Week The Bulgarian ELKA 6521 was the first European electronic calculator. ELKA 6521 was among the most popular electronic calculators in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s.In 1975 Bulgaria exported more than 30 000 electronic calculators ELKA for Switzerland. EnerSys Bulgaria manufactures batteries weighing more than 300 tons for UK and German submarines. 7 general overvIeW oF BulgarIa 8 general overvIeW oF BulgarIa 9 geography Bulgaria is situated on the main roads which connect Europe to Asia 10