< All News May 11, 2010 Mr. Ioannis Anagnostou, Plant Manager, TITAN Zlatna Panega Cement

 

Overview: (see full transcript below)

Mr. Ioannis Anagnostou shared his opinion that the government should concentrate on making the permitting process more efficient and transparent. He also said that attention should be paid to the process of decision making in regard to European funds since they create opportunities for new investments. 

 

Full transcript of the speech of Mr. Ioannis Anagnostou, Plant Manager, TITAN Zlatna Panega Cement, at the Roundtable discussion "Bulgaria: Attractive Investment Destination":

TITAN is a large investor in Bulgaria. We came here 15 years ago and we came here to stay.

We have a long-term vision and we were attracted, as many other Greek companies, by the adjacency to Greece, by the growth potential of the sector and the country itself, by the culture and by the advantages already mentioned – tax and financial incentives. Our experience so far had been quite good. We had some concerns with the previous administration and we have seen improvements with the current government, which seems to be very pro-business. It seems like a government which tries to seize the advantages that this country can offer. In the past, we have seen a large wave of investment in the country; some infrastructural needs have already been met.

But the things that made Bulgaria successful so far would not make it successful in the future. I share very much what Ms. Nikolaeva said, I believe foreign investors who come to Bulgaria have to be treated in a proper way, in a way that other countries that compete in Bulgaria to attract investments treat their investors. As I said, we are here to stay despite the things that concern us. We have seen huge potential in energy and infrastructure, we expect a lot from the recent integration with the EU and NATO. We have large plans to invest in the country; we continue investing despite the economic crisis. We believe this is the right time to continue doing what we said we would do. We are a company that is here not only to build infrastructure and support it, but also to build companies, managers and societies. We are a good corporate social citizen in all the areas we are operating. We believe that government can do that much, but private involvement is essential. Some of the problems we have seen are connected with permitting issues and the transparency of the decision making process, also with the lack of dialogue or at least what seemed to be lack of dialogue.

Things have improved during the last year. We believe that permitting bureaucracy would be an issue that this government will tackle efficiently. Fast decision making especially with regard to European funds has to be another priority of the government, because businesses thrive on a good visibility. We want visibility, we want to be able to plan. Planning is a big issue, which needs to be tackled on every level. In order to be able to plan, you need to have some parameters, you need to have some assumptions. The government has to be able to protect the assumptions that the investors make. I think we all agree that we have good, skilled labor. I think that what we lack is more managerial weaponry.  Bulgaria has to understand that it is in competition with the region. This is the right time to make the necessary changes and make Bulgaria an attractive destination. Marketing outside Bulgaria is very important.

There are many people that cross out Bulgaria just because they do not know about it. We have to use the experience and knowledge of organizations and countries that are successful in attracting FDI.

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