Bulgaria is a country in Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey. It is a country of revival. The history of Bulgaria can be summarized by a number of important influences. As the World Factbook of CIA states, ‘The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of Bulgaria became independent in 1908. Having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its first multiparty election since World War II and began the contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy while combating inflation, unemployment, corruption, and crime. Today, reforms and democratization keep Bulgaria on a path toward eventual integration into the EU. The country joined NATO in 2004.

Today, Bulgaria has come to a STABLE point. It is actually expected that very soon, in 2007, Bulgaria will make part of the EU, which has naturally put Bulgaria under pressure for reaching a number of important EU standards on economic, political, legal, technological and social level. This country is investing heavily nowadays in standardization and fight with crime and corruption which have been considered to be the main obstacles in the past for attracting Foreign Direct Investments.  GDP growth has been booking 4% on average since the year 2000 and is expected to be much higher for the last year. The investment climate has now been improved drastically too. Hence, the FDI doubled in 2003 compared to 2002 and remained high in the years after.

The cultural environment in this country is the best one can imagine. Culture does not differ that much from the Dutch one. People are friendly, and the younger generation speak English. During the day people work hard, also exceeding sometimes during the evening hours, but when the moment comes, people can relax and really party, enjoying the fruits of their hard work. Social life is of high quality, and is complemented by the famous Bulgarian wine and Bulgarian specialties. The wines in Bulgaria are of top quality and have not much to do with the exported wines to the west. Cuisine is versatile and has to offer anything to anybody’s taste. There is even a newly started Dutch bakery in Sofia!

In the skirts of the Vitosha mountain is located the inviting modern capital of Bulgaria, where the most entrepreneurial foreign businessmen have already started discovering  a new potential for money-making, cultural enrichment and more.

There are also more and more Dutch people starting to do their living in that country, attracted by the combination of business opportunities, divine nature, combining sea and mountains, and friendly well-educated population.

So…. Why wait? Give it a try. The risks are most of the time heavily rewarded. But don’t go alone. It is still a time when at least as a start you will need a guiding hand. Whether it is ours or somebody else’s, do control your risks! We are here to help you, waiting for your call!