The European Council on Foreign Relations(ECFR) and the Bulgarian Agency for Investments, organized an official presentation of the report ” European interest in investment agreement with China”. Participants in the event were Daniel Valchev, member of the ECFR, Stamen Yanev, CEO of Bulgarian Agency for Investments, Angela Shtanel, expert in ECFR and co-author of the publication “European interest in investment agreement with China”, as well as representatives of “Global Union for Innovation, Development and Education”.
Upgrading on the publication of ECFR “European interest in investment agreement with China”, Angela Shtanel emphasized the need of unity in the positions of EU members as a way for the Union to extract as much as possible from the negotiation process with China. Stamen Yanev and Daniel Valchev focused on the perspectives for Bulgaria, by illustrating that our country represents a small market for an investor with size such as China . Never the less, according to them, there is a possibility to attract Chinese investments, if Bulgaria positions itself as an “entrance” for China to the internal market of EU. The discussion also focused on the existing format of cooperation with China 16+1 and the Bulgarian participation in it.
Obviously Bulgaria has interest to attract as many as possible Chinese investments. However, this interest has not yet materialized itself in a consolidated governmental position. The forming of regional unions, including countries outside EU and in the context of the format 16+1 is a possiblity, which must be taken into account, considering the participants in the discussion.
