Korea Herald: Bulgaria Seeks Investment from S-Korea Firms

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has called on South Korean high-tech firms to invest into the country, according to a leading South Korean news outlet.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, he has described Bulgaria as the "front-door" to the European Union.

"To step in Bulgaria for Korean business means to step in the region, placed between Europe and Asia; we are the front door to a 500-million people single European market," the agency's English-language version quotes Plevneliev as saying ahead of his visit to the Asian country.

Between May 10 and May 15, Plevneliev will be on a visit to both Mongolia and the Republic of Korea together with Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev. The trip to Seoul comes at the invitation of his counterpart Park Geun-hye and is to mark the 25th anniversary of bilateral relations. The Bulgarian head of state will spend there three days and will take part in a business forum alongside an accompanying delegation.

A number of MOUs will be signed on business and cultural ties, in his words.

In the interview, President Plevneliev explains Bulgarian industrial zones, as well as "the first innovation ecosystem in Bulgaria - Sofia Tech Park," might be "a platform for Korean firms to start-up in Bulgaria and the EU."

He points to a recent report which placed Bulgaria first (overtaking South Korea itself) as the country with the highest broadband adoption rate (connectivity >4 Mbps) at 96%.

Bilateral trade amounted last year to USD 310 B, according to Yonhap, with South Korean investment into Bulgaria (USD 263 M) dwarfing FDI flowing the other way (USD 1.2 M) as of September 2014.