Scott Pozil: Bulgaria Must Define Itself in Terms of Economic Sectors

  Interview with Scott Pozil, Commercial Counselor at the USEmbassy in Sofia, for the Bulgaria-US Survey of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency).

(Summary)

Q: …Bulgarian-American trade appears to be relatively small in volume….
…what Bulgaria is known for with American business…
Certainly, Bulgaria's entry in NATO and the EU will help push the numbers up….
…from the perspective of American companies Bulgaria is relatively unknown – or was relatively unknown – it is becoming more known particularly because of these two memberships (in NATO and the EU- editor) …
…Bulgaria has strong ties with EU countries so naturally the bulk of the trade will be with those countries. Though, there is a lot of interaction between Bulgarian and American companies that are based in Europe ….
… so there are some American companies working with Bulgarian companies ….
Bulgaria is starting to appear on the radar screen of many American companies but it takes time. It requires a lot of outreach and education about what the opportunities in Bulgaria are…
…areas where trade really has the best opportunities is in the IT sector. …so there have been some long-standing relationships there. Most of the major American IT companies have a presence in Bulgaria.
Another area I think is renewable energy, ….from the point of view of American companies there is a lot of serious interest to invest in this sector.
 …targets of renewable energy – particular in wind and solar but there are also some interesting projects in waste to energy.
Our companies bring a lot of know-how and they want to share it. The industry in Bulgaria is relatively underdeveloped, and I think American companies want to contribute to that development…

Q: …some crucial American investments aren't happening as quickly as they should be…
The Bulgarian government needs to be very proactive in terms of attracting investments. This means that they need to provide incentives and good support to companies coming here.

Q: …Bulgaria's advantages in that respect?
…good geographic location, the infrastructure is good…
Companies want to come here… they just need to have the one major reason to come here, and that's where the government has to play a role to give it to them – whether through incentives or support.
The Bulgarian government has to keep its focus on what is it that gets the companies here, what is the bottom line. You can set up industrial zones, or any kind of structure that you think is helpful to companies.
The government has to be thinking strategically on how to attract those companies…
Bulgaria has to think bigger…
Q …level of Bulgaria's labor resources and talent?
There is a lot of skilled labor in Bulgaria. There could be more…by trying to encourage Bulgarians to come back.
 … educational systems of today have to promote some kind of independent thinking….
…in order to function in the global economy you have to be able to think independently. You have to able to look at a phenomenon and react to it. This is a global education trend of how I as a person can critically think and critically react to a situation, and a lot of the Bulgarians I have met there is one common thread among all of them – they've either studied abroad, or they've studied at foreign universities in Bulgaria where they are given that opportunity …
The Ambassador has mentioned it many times as well. And companies that hire want to be able to go to the university to be able to hire Bulgarians. They want to have relationship with universities, they want to make sure that the students are properly trained so that they can become employees later on. What better thing than having that practical work experience?