The Invest Sofia team met with representatives of the Netherlands Embassy, led by the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Bulgaria – His Excellency Mr. Simon van der Burgh. During the meeting, Victor Gusev, head of the Investment Analysis Department, presented the activities of the Agency and the instrument we use to help new investors in the city, as well as those who already have established businesses and plan to expand their teams, activities or production facilities.
The guests from the Netherlands shared that they are highly impressed by the development of the business ecosystem and business environment in the city as a whole. They emphasized that they consider Sofia as an attractive business destination that offers many opportunities.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is one of Bulgaria’s traditional and main trade and economic partners According to the latest data by the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the total value of direct foreign investments of the Netherlands in Bulgaria amounts to 7,411.3M euros. Thus the country ranks 1st in terms of FDI in Bulgaria.
The exchange of goods between the two countries amounts to 2534.8M euros. Leading export commodities are rape seed (9.6%), biodiesel (5.2%), sunflower seed (5.2%), pharmaceuticals (4.5%), glassware (4.1%), wheat and wheat-rye mixture (3.9%). Imported goods are biodiesel and biodiesel blends (18.9%), medicines (6.0%), automatic information processing machines (4.2%), blood products (2.8%).
Among the key investors in our country with Dutch participation are companies such as Heineken (Zagorka), ING bank, Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Shell, Strypes – part of ICT group holding, and many others.
