Възможности и перспективи пред външнотърговските отношения на България с държавите от Субсахарска Африка

Abstract

The book presents to its readers a brief, yet comprehensive analysis of Bulgaria’s trade relations with Sub-Saharan African countries aiming to outline the opportunities for Bulgarian business revealed by this relatively unknown in our country region, which is quite neglected in the last decades. The publication is prepared within project “Opportunities and Prospects for Bulgarian Trade Relations with the Sub-Saharan Africa” financed by the Program for Support of Young Scientists at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences under Contract No. DFNP-24/20.04.2016. The study analyses the trade relations of Bulgaria with the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Subject of the study are the real participation and attitudes of Bulgarian business as well as the dynamics, commodity structure and direction of trade with these countries. The aim of the publication is to identify the potential benefits and possible priority actions in the field of trade cooperation on the part of both Bulgarian companies and the government to redevelop trade relations with Sub-Saharan Africa in the context of the EU’s policy towards the region. In addition, the study aims to identify opportunities and support the state in formulating policies and instruments to achieve trade expansion on these markets. The publication is structured to allow the reader to get acquainted with the outcomes of the project: • A short introduction introduces the Sub-Saharan Africa region. • The first part summarises the institutional structure of Bulgarian trade relations with Sub-Saharan Africa and in particular the new framework of the EU’s trade relations with the. • The second part presents the results of the analysis of the trade relations of Bulgaria with the Sub-Saharan countries, including: a study of the dynamics of trade; a comparative analysis with the EU and other Central and Eastern European countries; a detailed research of the commodity and geographic structure of trade for the 2003-2015 period.  • The third part discusses a synthesised profile of Bulgarian companies trading with Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as of those who are interested in the region. • The fourth part describes the results of systematic interviews to study the attitudes of Bulgarian companies trading in Sub-Saharan Africa. • The last, concluding part summarises the most important analytical results of the survey, and presents some recommendations regarding the possibilities for improvement of the policy towards the region by the Bulgarian companies as well as by the government. The book has been developed to provide in a systematic and comprehensible way information of the current state and the prospects of Bulgarian foreign trade relations with Sub-Saharan African countries to politicians, government officials, business representatives, the academic community and the general public.