Meeting with H.E Mr. Rosen Plevneliev the Bulgarian President

The meeting was attended from the Qatari side by Mr. Hussain Al-Fardan, QBAs first deputy chairman, Sheikh Nawaf Bin Nasser Al-Thani QBA Board member, and QBA members Mr. Nasser Suliman Al-Haidar, Mr. Salah Al-Jaidah, Mr. Maqbool Habeeb Khalfan and Mr. Saud Al-Mana vice chairman and CEO of Al-Mana Group and Mrs. Sarah Abdallah QBA Deputy General Manager.

The Qatari side welcomed the visit of H.E the president and his accompanying delegation, which aimed at discussing possible ways of cooperation and enhance bilateral relations between the two countries.

From his side, the President expressed his please to meet the Qatari businessmen, where he confirmed that his country is looking forward to cooperate with Qatar in building mutually successful business partnerships, noting that the strategic location of Bulgaria in the Southeast of Europe, serve as a commercial gateway between eastern European countries and the middle east, The president also displayed to the Qatari businessmen present in the meeting some of the investment incentives that Bulgaria offers such as: Stable macroeconomic environment, Low labour and operating costs, in addition to Favorable tax environment, Bulgaria also enjoys a low debt rate of 16%, and the local economy is expected to grow by 3-4% by 2018.

H.E also noted that one of Bulgarias most important sectors for investment is the Agriculture and food industry, in addition to the energy sector, were the country is seeking to diversify its economy by buying gas from Qatar, with the involvement of a group of European countries which are Greece, Romania, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, these projects aims at establishing a liquefied natural gas facility in Greece to facilitate the purchase of gas from Qatar and bring it to Bulgaria. In return Bulgaria can provide assistance to Qatar in solar energy, as it has been investing heavily in that field in the past three years.

H.E also added that the real estate and construction sector in Bulgaria is well developed and considered attractive sectors to invest in.

The Qatari businessmen association Members explained to the Bulgarian delegation Qatars achievement in all fields, which was enhanced under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and showcased some of the business and investment opportunities available in Qatar, and invited Bulgarian companies and businessmen to explore the investment opportunities available in different sectors of Qatars economy.

QBA members have also expressed their interest to discover the investment opportunities available in Bulgaria and establishing various projects in different sectors especially in the banking, tourism and real estate sectors, and stressed that the association is ready to facilitate and support the Bulgarian companies and businessmen to enter the Qatari market and form joint projects with their Qatari counterparts.

At the end of the meeting, H.E the president thanked QBA for the warm welcome and invited the Qatari businessmen to visit Bulgaria and have a closer look on the investment opportunities available in the country.

Its worth mentioning that the Qatari- Bulgarian bilateral trade has amounted to 30 -40 Million Riyals per year, and the Bulgarian economy depends on the service sector as it constitutes 63% of the total national income, followed by the industrial sector which amount to 30.3% while the agriculture sector constitutes 6.7% of the gross national income.