SA investment in Bulgaria: PM welcomes ‘real job creation’
Bulgaria welcomes all foreign investors who invest in real production and create jobs, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said at the official opening of a South African investment, the Automotive Leather Company (ALC) four million euro project in the village of Moussachevo.
ALC specialises in producing leather seat covers and other luxury leather items for the motor vehicle industry. The South African company’s investment in Bulgaria is creating about 500 jobs.
The facility, operating since September 2011, produces leather upholstery for BMW 5 and 7-series cars.
Borissov said that “true investors” were coming to Bulgaria.
So far, about 75 per cent of investments were in construction and in facilities such as wind and solar farms.
He told workers that their high-quality work would in turn encourage further investment.
Economy and Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev said thatBulgaria’s political and macro-economic stability had motivated ALC to choose to invest in the country.
Borissov said, “as you can see, when there is political and financial stability in a country, when we have the lowest taxes in the European Union and work on the construction of road infrastructure, we manage to attract new investors”.
He said that he expected that by the end of the year, foreign investors’ factories would achieve production to the value of 30 million leva.
South African ambassador Sheila Camerer, noting that 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and South Africa, said that the June 12 event signalled the growing interest of South African businesses in the opportunities offered by Bulgaria in trade and industry.
