The Atlantic Club of Bulgaria in cooperation with the Bulgarian School of Politics and American Chamber of Commerce and with the support of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy organized a keynote speech of the European Commissioner for Trade H.E. Karel De Gucht. The speech entitled “The EU and the World: Trade Perspectives for the Next 20 Years” took place on July 12th at Sheraton Hotel in Sofia. The visit of Mr. De Gucht to Bulgaria on July 12 was marked by discussions on the trade relations between the EU and third countries, particularly the ones from the Middle East.

During the event Mr. De Gucht noted that Europe is still the biggest market in the world. With more than 500 million wealthy consumers, Europe is offering a vast market for the realization of Bulgarian products, said the Commissioner. Thus, he underlined the importance of monitoring the quality of the Bulgarian goods as the most important condition for good trade relations between the country and the rest of the EU.

In his speech, Mr. De Gucht focused on the increasing importance for better trade relations with China and developing markets like Brazil and Indonesia, an issue the EU has been discussing for the past few months. The European Commissioner noted that it is necessary for the EU, with its 27 member states, to work together on this initiative. Mr. De Gucht stressed that Europe has great potential in this area, but must develop the already existing trade relations with the abovementioned emerging markers.