Auto industry proof Bulgaria can develop in the sector — Radev

Radev gave an example with Romania where for the purchase of an electric car the buyer gets a serious financial incentive from the state. (File Photo: NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

SOFIA, Bulgaria – President Rumen Radev said the automotive industry is “living proof” that Bulgaria could develop in the sector.

“The automotive industry is the living proof that Bulgaria could develop extremely quickly in a sector which defines the future of Europe and the world,” said President Radev at the opening of a forum, entitled “The Automotive Industry Meets the Government”, Radev’s Press Secretariat reported here on Wednesday.

The meeting with representatives of the automobile industry and the institutions is organized by the Automotive Cluster Bulgaria and the Association of Car Manufacturers.

“You have proved that within a decade we reached the current levels of a 11% share of GDP, 75,000 jobs and huge revenues. This shows an extreme strength: industrial, scientific, technological and personnel,” Radev said.

“In Europe there are large scale processes for transformation of transport, electric mobility, development of new clean technologies which will be established on the market very soon,” said the President.

He said Bulgaria has the big chance, the foundations and capabilities to become an integral part of these processes.

“Bulgaria places sixth in the EU in terms of production, extraction and processing of copper and lead, which are extremely important to electric mobility,” Radev said.

The business and the state should set themselves much higher ambitions, to have a clear strategy how the sector will be developed and this strategy should be reflected in the legislation, drafted for electric mobility and in the budget, he said.

According to him, in nearly all European cars there are parts, components, software, manufactured in Bulgaria.

A reachable goal is for Bulgaria to be a leader in car manufacturing in the Balkans and Southeast Europe.

Bulgaria should overcome some negative effects: the oldest car park in the EU, the average age of cars is over 20 years and high pollution in the big cities, he said.

Radev gave an example with Romania where for the purchase of an electric car the buyer gets a serious financial incentive from the state.

Last year Bulgaria was first in the growth of electric car registrations, said the President. (BTA)