Bulgarian-American trade has grown steadily since Bulgaria changed from a socialist to a market economy, and particularly since Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004 and the European Union in 2007. In 2007, the first and second largest investments in the Bulgarian economy were made by U.S. firms.
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the east. The capital and largest city is Sofia; other major cities are Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas. With a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi), Bulgaria is Europe's 16th-largest country.
A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a market economy is the existence of factor markets that play a dominant role in the allocation of capital and the factors of production.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's Headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.
U.S. investments made in Bulgaria between September 1992 and September 2006 amounted to a total of over one billion dollars, [1] which made the United States the eighth largest investor in the country. During the same period, the U.S. was Bulgaria's ninth largest trading partner. The U.S. is the only non-EU country in the top ten foreign investors in Bulgaria.
Bilateral trade has been steadily growing since 1999. Two-way merchandise trade is just under $1 billion with US exports to Bulgaria reaching $491 million and Bulgarian exports at $439 million in 2006. [2]
Bulgaria's exports to the United States amounted to three percent of its total exports in 2005, and the share of imports from the USA stood at two percent.
In 2007,U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle and Bulgarian Ambassador to the United States Elena Poptodorova toured several U.S. cities to encourage more and investment and trade between the U.S. and Bulgaria.
John Ross Beyrle is an American diplomat. A career Foreign Service Officer and specialist in Russian and Eastern European affairs, he served as Ambassador of the United States to the Russian Federation from July 3, 2008 until January 10, 2012, and as Ambassador to Bulgaria from 2005 to 2008.
Elena Poptodorova is a Bulgarian politician and diplomat, who has served two times as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria to the United States.
Major U.S. Investments in Bulgaria (2007) [4]
AIG (telecommunications) $2.billion (est.)
AES Corporation (energy generation) - $1.4 billion
Gramercy (real estate and portfolio investments $800 million (est.)
AES Corporation Wind farm project consortium with Geo Energy - $450 million
Tishman Realty & Construction (real estate) - $370 million
American Standard (kitchen and bath fittings and fixtures - $239.7 million
GE Real Estate (real estate) - $80 million
Kraft Foods (food) -$38.0 million
Alcoa (consumer products) - $30 million
Nu Image (movie production) $28 million
News Corp (media and television) $22.8 million
Johnson Controls (electronics) - $7 million
Other major investors whose investment totals are not disclosed include:
Microsoft (call center)
Hewlett Packard (European Service Center)
IBM (Global Service Center)
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