Last night I was told how Bulgaria and Romania can offer great business opportunities for the UK, and I met some traders who have already established contacts there.
The question that was repeatedly asked was why is our 
Government keen to push trade links with India and China, but not doing the same for our European neighbours – western and eastern?
India and China might be great for the larger businesses, but what about the SMEs? Good point.
Just in case you do plan to trade with Bulgaria, here are some valuable tips from, Zircon who have prepared the rough Business Guide to help steer you through.
- Shaking the head means “yes”, while nodding means “no”. Very important MEPs remember this during debates.
- They will only take calls on mobile phones, they live, breathe and die their mobile phones.
- The men have big egos and big bellies – avoid massaging the wrong one!
- They are addicted chain smokers and often take a ciggie break half-way through a meal.
- The average monthly salary is £100; this is the only declared salary, the rest is paid in cash
- Education is valued more highly than houses, cars or business success. All children are expected to get a university degree and a Masters. We could learn lots from this ethos.
It seems this new land of milk and honey has areas of natural outstanding beauty and stunning archaeological sites and could become the next destination for medical tourism too, specialising in dentistry and plastic surgery. They are also big on organic produce; 40% of their trade is in agriculture, largely organic due to being behind the times. If you buy an organic cucumber from Sainsbury’s, the chances are it came from Bulgaria! This should help meet our growing demand.
Despite these countries having to be reined in to meet EU standards, the message was not to be deterred by perceptions and prejudice. Anyway, we have a few bad apples in the UK too.
I like the fact that these countries appear “wild and untamed”, it would be boring if we were all alike, very civilised and, er English. And, of course, they like us too…
Interesting tips. Do they really take ciggie break half-way through a meal?
Immigration is out of control. I’d like to hear a bit more from Damien Green on this. He’s one of the few politicians I can listen to without wanting to throw something at the telly but he hardly every speaks.
Raj, yes, that’s what I was told, you never see them without a ciggie hanging off their bottom lip.
Daily Pundit, agreed we should have had controlled immigration in 2004 when 10 new Member States joined, but that will be the case now, I believe. I do believe we can benefit by integrating in this way, but my main concern is Turkey which is a Muslim country and is still abusing human rights.
UK daily pundit – we need the immigrants especially the highly qualified Bulgarians and especially watch out the middle classes and those Romainians – some of the worlds best mathemiticians and computer hackers.
Geoff, that’s really interesting, I didn’t know Bulgaria could boast such highly intelligent persona, good and bad.