New business opportunities for the Bulgarian private sector in the Black Sea Region

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced a USD$ 11 billion worth of business potential for Bulgarian enterprises in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation region. The finding was revealed at the official presentation of the Black Sea Trade and Investment Promotion Programme(BSTIP) on 8 October 2007 in Sofia. The overall aim of the programme is to support economic growth and development in the Black Sea region through closer economic integration and to expand intra-regional trade and investment links among Black Sea Economic Cooperation Member States.

8 October 2007, Sofia. At the official presentation of the Black Sea Trade and Investment Promotion Programme (BSTIP) for the Bulgarian Business Support Organizations held at the Grand Hotel Bulgaria in Sofia, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced the findings of a recent study, carried out within the framework of the BSTIP. The study, which comprises a comprehensive trade flow analysis in order to identify priority products and services having an intra-regional investment and trade potential in Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), indicates that the business potential for Bulgarian enterprises in the BSEC region is worth USD$ 11 billion.

The UNDP Resident Representative a.i. Ms.Lene Jespersen opened the meeting highlighting the importance of BSTIP as the first ever private sector-driven programme having a holistic approach to economic integration in the region.

The programme is expected to promote regional economic development, develop trade and investment linkages between BSEC Member States with positive impact on the reduction of poverty and offers improved dialogue among countries with political tensions. Increased trade and investment links will be generated with the private sector of the region and new partnerships will be developed with business support organizations. The beneficiaries of the programme will be small and medium enterprises and special emphasis will be given to enterprises managed by young and women entrepreneurs. The programme will be implemented in cooperation with local chambers of commerce and business support organizations.

National business support organizations in each of the BSEC country will be assigned the role of national focal point for the implementation of activities of the BSTIP. Indeed, the success of the Programme will depend critically on the active involvement of the business community in all BSEC Member States. At the same time, the BSTIP will provide opportunity to create capacity within the business support institutions of the region to take advantage of the sub-regional trade and investment expansion opportunities on a permanent and sustainable basis.

The Black Sea Trade and Investment Promotion Programme is co-financed by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance, UNDP and BSEC. It is the first programme jointly co-financed by the Government of Turkey and Greece under the auspices of UNDP and is also the first partnership project between UNDP and BSEC.

UNDP and BSEC has strengthened their partnership with the signature of an Agreement of Cooperation between Kemal Dervis, UNDP Administrator and Ambassador Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos, BSEC Secretary General, on June 28, 2007, at BSEC Headquarters in Istanbul. The signing of this Agreement will contribute to a more enabling environment for UNDP and BSEC, in partnership with other partners, to further pursue the promotion and implementation of regional projects as a means for regional cooperation and development.

The Black Sea Economic Cooperation was established to create a unified regional economic regime in June 1992. The Organization has 12 member states today including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s largest development agency. It is on the ground in 166 countries across the world and on an annual basis manages resources totaling over USD 4 billion. In the region of Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States UNDP works in 29 countries and maintains 24 country offices.

For more information, please contact: in Bulgaria: Maya Nyagolova, Public Advocacy Officer; tel.: +359 2 96 96 167 ; maya.nyagolova@undp.org  ; Ogniana Glavoussanova, Programme analyst, tel: 96 96 117, ogniana.glavoussanova@undp.org  ; in Greece: Giuseppe Belsito, Programme manager, Athenes programme management office, tel. +30 210 7701661 ; giuseppe.belsito@undp.org