The document discusses the economy of Bulgaria and opportunities for future industries. It notes that Bulgaria currently has developed industries in agriculture, food production, tourism, services and gas extraction. It identifies weaknesses such as a lack of foreign investment and competitiveness. The document proposes future industries could include alternative energy sources, biofuels, and nanotechnologies. Specifically, it suggests Bulgaria could establish a company to process its surplus forest resources into pellets, OSB panels, and packing papers to supply environmentally friendly fuel and construction materials to markets in Russia and Central Asia.

1. AS
Selected EE country: Bulgaria
Team creator: Alina Sagimuldina
Team members: Anna Svinukhova
Origin: Kazakhstan
School: Nazarbayev University, Economics

2. Developed Industries in Bulgaria
• Agriculture
• Food production
• Tourism
• Services
• Gas extraction
• Machinery and electronics (rapidly developing phase)

3. Aspects to improve
• Lack of foreign direct investment
• Lack of competitiveness on the EU market
• Poor transportation system

4. Discussions
• Weaknesses of EE • Opportunities:
countries: Significant amount of
Legacies of planned natural resources which
economy (e.g. influence might be used for
of the Soviet Union) industry development
Bureaucracy Transitional position on
Inefficiency of resource the Eurasian continent (
management trade, export, tariffs on
goods passing through
their territories)
Rich human resources (
e.g. educated citizens
willing to contribute to
the economic growth)

5. Discussions
• Focus industries: alternative sources of energy, (sun, wind,
tidal energy), biofuels, nanotechnologies,
• Future professions: environmental engineers, technologists,
ecologists, health service workers

6. Future demanded company in
Bulgaria
• Bulgaria has an excess of forest
resources (about 6 cubic
millions)
• Future company can benefit
from processing the surplus of
those resources

7. Our propositions
• Following the sustainable
development trends, by 2022 the
demand for biofuel will increase
• Bulgarian companies can increase
the number of pellets (compressed
tree splinters or unused grain)
designed to provide
environmentally friendly fuel

8. • Additional usage of tree splinters:
OSB panels (construction material
water-cold resisting, cheap) and
packing papers (no bleaching +
can be recycled, does not require
high amount of quality wood)

9. Structure of a company
• Network of affiliated companies, located near the woods
• The executive board is the same as in a typical company:
regional director, general manager, accounting
• Specific sectors: scientific research sector with engineers and
environmentalists

10. Future market
• Logistics sector should be of great importance to regulate the
distribution of the real goods
• + new outlets should be developed
• Specifically, reorientation of export towards Russia and Central
Asian market
• Why unique? – easy to establish a company, low cost of
production hence low price for export, beneficial for
environment, which is the main future concern, apart from
technological advancement

11. Reference
• National Statistical Institute, retrieved from
http://www.nsi.bg/index_en.htm
• Olson O. European wood pellet market integration, retrieved
from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S09619534
10002771
• Nishimura, T. Image analysis and bending of OSB wood
panels, retrieved from
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00226-003-
0219-z?LI=true#page-1