14.09.2023 Tsanko Arabadzhiev before the Bulgarian News Agency: Bulgaria is in second place in attracted investments from the Three Seas Fund

Bulgaria is in second place after Poland in attracted investments from the Three Seas Fund. The disbursed money is about EUR 150 million out of a total of EUR 1 billion in the fund. This was stated in Burgas by Tsanko Arabadzhiev, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB), who is in charge of the Three Seas initiative Investment Fund (TSIIF).

The first direct investment is aimed at BMF Port Burgas. About EUR 70 million will be invested there in the expansion of the port – new container terminals, an oil terminal, and a natural gas terminal will be built.

"The idea is that a much larger part of the cargo that now passes by us in the Black Sea and goes to the Romanian Port of Constanța shall pass through Burgas. This is extremely important for our economy, because every single ship that enters and unloads here means revenue for the Maritime Administration, this is VAT, this is customs duties, revenue for the Bulgarian State Railways and for private carriers, etc.," Mr. Arabadzhiev explained and pointed out that the very fact that the Port of Burgas will be developed to such an extent that it can compete with the Port of Constanța is a huge success for Bulgaria.

The other investment from the Three Seas Fund is aimed at a company that deals with photovoltaics. So far we have 60 MW that are operational. Within two years, there will be 500 MW – that's a quarter of the Kozloduy NPP, Mr. Arabadzhiev commented.

According to him, Bulgaria wins in three different directions under the Three Seas Initiative – our participation in the geopolitical union, our direct investment of EUR 20 million, which will be doubled, and thirdly – attracting investments in Bulgaria, which means a lot of jobs and revenue for the treasury.

He explained that the Three Seas Fund is an initiative from Central and Eastern Europe, with which the countries participating in it aim to accelerate their development and reach those of Western Europe.

"There are many different assessments of what we need. The idea is that through private partnerships, different investors can recognize these investments as an investment opportunity – to invest in a road, in ports and then make money from it. In fact, that's how the fund was created, which amounts to EUR 1 billion, and the goal is to invest in projects in three main directions – transport, digitalization and renewable sources. To show private investors, pension funds, insurance companies that this is actually an "asset" class where you can invest and earn," Mr. Arabadzhiev said. He pointed out that the fund is almost exhausted and it is time to start thinking about another one on our Bulgarian initiative.

"Two years ago, I personally presented to my colleagues from Three Seas an idea for a new innovation fund. They liked it, they embraced the idea. Last week in Bucharest, they announced the creation of the next new innovation fund, which will invest in companies that are in the field of innovation and digitalization. Here we are the first again – the Ministry of Innovation and Growth of Bulgaria, which is the principal of BDB, expressed its support for this, so our country will most likely join this initiative as well," Mr. Arabadzhiev concluded.