09.05.2013

Following the “publication” of the White Paper, AmCham Bulgaria is pleased to announce the third meeting with one of the parties vying for election on 12 May. On May 8, 2013, AmCham Board members met with the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). The Party was represented by Evgenii Uzunov, Vice President of National Council of BSP, Kornelia Ninova, member of NC of BSP and former MP, Coalition for Bulgaria, Boyan Chukov, member of NC of BSP and head of Public Policy dept., Lyubomir Georgiev, Coalition policy dept., Boyko Lazarov, expert, Coalition policy dept.

30.04.2013

Following “publication” of its White Paper, AmCham Bulgaria is pleased to announce the second meeting with one of the parties vying for election on 12 May. On 30 April, AmCham Board members met with the National Movement for Stability and Progress (NDSV). The Movement was represented by Lyubomir Datsov, and George Naydenov, both on Movement’s economic and financial council. AmCham was represented by Peter Lithgow, AES and Alex Nestor, Dundee Precious Metals.

25.04.2013

On April 23, 2013 the OSAC Bulgaria Country Council held a day-long workshop for our OSAC constituents and AmCham members on business continuity management at the Anglo American School in Sofia. Moderated by the Embassy’s Regional Security Officer from the Diplomatic Security Service, 45 participants from American and international companies participated in an active and lively discussion on a variety of topics including business continuity, disaster recovery, and emergency planning. The group also exchanged lessons learned with participants who were impacted by recent bomb threat calls, and discussed ways to protect business continuity under force majeure situations.

23.04.2013

Following “publication” of its White Paper, AmCham Bulgaria is pleased to announce the first meeting with one of the parties vying for election on 12 May. On 22 April, AmCham Board members met with the Bulgaria for Citizens Movement. The Movement was represented by Bisser Manolov, Krassimir Popov, and Valentin Stoyanov. AmCham was represented by Peter Lithgow, AES; Daniel Berg, EBRD, Alex Nestor, Dundee Precious Metals and Valentin Georgiev, Executive Director.

12.04.2013

The Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce, in consultation with its Committees and various members, is pleased to present the attached Policy Paper (the "White Paper", see second paragr.), which sets out basic principles and specific areas of focus the Chamber believes should be adhered to in order to strengthen the Bulgarian economy and promote economic growth.

09.04.2013

08.04.2013

David Arkless, world-renowned expert on labor market trends shared knowledge on the main trends on the world labor market with AmCham members on March 22, 2013. The business breakfast was organized jointly with Manpower and was attended by the businesses, syndicates, reps of the ministry of labor, employment agency, HR consultancy agencies, and universities in Bulgaria. David Arkless advised the employers and the institutions how to improve the labor market. The guests were welcomed by Nadia Vassileva, general manager, Manpower Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia and Dobromira Manasieva, co-chair of the AmCham HR committee.

29.03.2013

Ambassador Ries kicked off the U.S.-Bulgaria Entrepreneurship Partnership with a breakfast meeting aimed at generating ideas for a new joint public-private partnership. The initiative aims to support Bulgaria in the development of an “entrepreneurship ecosystem,” similar to those in Silicon Valley or Austin, Texas in the U.S.

11.03.2013

Close to 100 ski racers took part in the ninth AmCham Ski tournament on March 9-10 in Pamporovo resort. The awards kindly provided by our member companies were given out in eight categories:

10.03.2013

14.02.2013

The AmCham board of directors convened Feb. 14th to appoint a president, two vice presidents and a treasurer after the chamber’s general assembly meeting. Peter Lithgow, AES Corporation has been reelected as president. Daniel Berg, EBRD and Alex Nestor, Dundee Precious Metals are vice-presidents. Petia Dimitrova, Eurobank Bulgaria has been reelected as treasurer.

13.02.2013

Seven AmCham BoD members were elected yesterday at the General Assembly held at the Hilton Sofia hotel: Daniel Berg, EBRD Bulgaria, David Butts, CMS Cameron McKenna , Petia Dimitrova, Eurobank Bulgaria, Sergey Koinov, Forton International, Peter Lithgow, AES Corporation, Solomon Passy, Atlantic Club Bulgaria, and Roman Vassilev, individual member. Sergey Koinov, Forton International has been elected at the BoD for the first time, while the other six have begun their second and third mandates.

29.01.2013

In his address to the AmCham business community, foreign diplomats and government officials on Jan. 29th, 2013 the prime minister Boyko Borissov elaborated on the major achievements of the Bulgarian government during the past 4 years: low foreign debt, low budget deficit, improvements in the administrative capacity, political and economic relations with the EU and the US.

16.01.2013

Herewith we would like to inform you that on Jan. 15th, 2013 AmCham Bulgaria sent a letter to the ministers: Lilyana Pavlova, regional development and public works, Nona Karadjova, environment and water, Miroslav Naydenov, agriculture and food, and Delyan Dobrev, minister of economy, energy and tourism, with regard to the proposed amendments to the Spatial Planning Act (ZUT) proposed by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public works.

19.12.2012

To wind down a successful and eventful year AmCham gathered again at its Christmas Party around 800 representatives of member companies, bilateral chambers and local business associations, partners, ambassadors, government officials, and media on December 14th, 2012 at the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan. Again, the party combined networking and fun.

14.12.2012

PwC Bulgaria sponsored a business breakfast on taxation and tax procedures on November 28th, 2012 within the AmCham Tax Committee. Guest speaker was Mr. Nikolay Kalistratov, Head of Appeals department at the Appeals and Performance Management Directorate, Bulgarian National Revenue Agency. About 100 AmCham members – experts in law, accountancy and tax issues, attended the event and participated in discussions during it. Mr. Kalistratov elaborated on current issues in taxation and on the appeal of tax audit acts. In his words the goal of the National Revenue Agency is to reduce the number of tax audits conducted by developing effective methods of preliminary selection of the auditees as well as by performing preliminary tax checks.

10.12.2012

A better dialogue between the business, schools and the educational institutions would make more successful the volunteer campaigns in the field of education. That was the main conclusion of the AmCham-BCAF round table discussion held on Dec. 3, 2012. The event gathered the reps AmCham volunteering companies, media partners of the last campaign and representatives of schools and educational inspectorate in Sofia. The participants focused on the results of the initiative “Professionals at schools” that let business, ministers, and journalists to enter class and to have an open dialogue with students on various topics.

23.11.2012

At its Thanksgiving community dinner on Nov. 20, 2012 AmCham in Bulgaria raised 58,400 BGN for the projects: “Get Ready to Succeed”, scholarships for school and university students without parents and for employment initiatives for disadvantaged young people. In 2012 AmCham allocated more funds for CSR causes: raffles from July Fourth celebration worth 3900 BGN, and 10,000 BGN donated to the floods sufferers in Biser village.

13.11.2012

Three business organizations joined efforts in November 2012 in setting up a forum on business ethics: the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, the German-Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Austrian Business Circle (ABC) in Bulgaria entitled "Business ethics: the main principle behind a sustainable business environment". The forum, that took place on Nov. 12, was held under the patronage of Rosen Plevneliev, president of Bulgaria. Justice minister Diana Kovacheva and labor and social policy minister Totyu Mladenov, ambassadors US Ambassador Marcie B. Ries, Matthias Höpfner, Ambassador of Germany, Jonathan Allen, Ambassador of the United Kingdom, and Gerhard Reiweger, Ambassador of Austria also attended the forum.

13.11.2012

In his address to the business community Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev elaborated on three major topics that will boost business climate in Bulgaria: importance of e-government, ecosystmes based on innovations, and transparent and predictable public procurement.