On 03 December 2013, at the World Trade Centre in Zurich, the first business forum was organised as part of the BSCC Promoting Partnerships Project, implemented by the Bulgarian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce Switzerland – Central Europe (SEC+). The project is supported by a grant from Switzerland through the Partnership and Expert Fund of the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme.

The purpose of the forum was to raise the interest of the Swiss small and medium-sized companies to Bulgaria in terms of potential partnership with local companies for joint initiatives and projects.

The official guests of the events from the Bulgarian and Swiss side were H.E. Ms. Meglena Plugtchieva – Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Swiss Confederation, Mr. Krasin Dimitrov – Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy, Mr. Hans Hess – President of SWISSMEM (the association of the Swiss mechanical and electrical engineering industry) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Reichle & De-Massari (R&M), Mr. Andreas Hürlimann – Chairman of the Board of Directors of LEM Holding SA, Mr. Marcus Stieger – Chief Operations Officer of Reichle & De-Massari.

Ms. Plugchieva welcomed the audience with an address.

Mr. Dimitrov delivered a presentation of the key macroeconomic indicators of Bulgaria.

Mr. Hürlimann and Mr. Stieger described the experience of their companies – respectively LEM Holding SA and Reichle & De-Massari – in investing in Bulgaria and launching new production facilities in the country.

Mr. Thomas H. Dalla Vecchia, Obal AG shared his useful experience in collaborating with Bulgarian companies from the metal-processing and machining industry.

Mr. Vassil Radoynovski, Head of the BSCC Secretariat, introduced to the participants the catalogue developed within the project, containing information about Bulgarian companies with potential of being partners with Swiss enterprises from the mechanical and electrical engineering and electronic industry. He also mentioned about the new platform to be developed on the BSCC web site, which will facilitate the networking and establishment of partnership between Bulgarian and Swiss companies.

The Forum ended with a cocktail at which the participants shared ideas and opinions on future collaboration opportunities.