On 12 July 2011, at 14:30 h, at the Sheraton Hotel, in Sofia, The Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, in cooperation with the Bulgarian School of Politics and the 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 visit of Mr. De Gucht to Bulgaria 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 was still the biggest market in the world. With more than 500 million wealthy consumers, Europe was offering a vast market for the realization of Bulgarian products, said the Commissioner. He underlined the importance of monitoring the quality of 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 of better trade relations with China and developing markets like Brazil and Indonesia – an issue that the EU had been discussing for the past few months. The European Commissioner noted that it was necessary for the EU, with its 27 Member States, to work together on this initiative. Mr. De Gucht stressed that Europe had great potential in this area, but must develop the already existing trade relations with the above-mentioned emerging markets.