Trip To Bulgaria - Turkish Daily News

Last week, I took a break and spent a longish weekend in Bulgaria. Traveling by car to this neighboring country is actually quite convenient, provided that you have the proper international travel documents and car insurance of course. It takes around six to seven hours to Varna, a beautiful city located on the Black Sea Coast, which is also known as the summer capital of Bulgaria. From 2007 onward, the country is part of the EU, so EU citizen expats or tourists can travel freely; however a visa is required for Turkish nationals. It is not possible to obtain a visa at the border, but an application should be made in advance to the relevant Bulgarian Embassy. The Black Sea coast in Bulgaria has developed quite fast in the last decade. Property is booming, thus attracting lot of investments.

Nesebar, Obzor, Bourgas, Varna, Balchik are just a few destinations definitely worth the excursion. Nesebar, located on the southern part of the coast is an ancient city and a famous seaside resort. It is a pretty small town, but very much like a live museum. It has also been included in UNESCO world heritage sites, since 1983. Traditional wooden houses, beautiful churches, ruins of the city walls are all worth exploring. In fact, many European citizens, who cannot afford a second home on the Spanish Rivera are heading toward the coastal line of Bulgaria. There are those who would prefer Turkey of course, but currently it is not possible to sell any property to foreigners in Turkey. This situation has definitely negative effects on the Turkish real estate market, but is advantageous to Bulgarian property sellers who try to lure buyers, whose first priority would not be Bulgaria. After joining the EU, Bulgaria has indeed made a progress in market economy. The country is attracting a lot of investment, mainly due to the ongoing privatization in various industries. FDI reached 5.7 billion euros in 2007. The U.K., Netherlands and Austria are among the top countries with highest amount of investment. Construction and real estate are the most attractive sectors for foreign investors; amounting to 60 percent of total FDI realized last year.

Thus, Sofia, Bansko, Sunny beach, Golden Sands are some of the prominent destinations for property investors. Steel is another lucrative area, promptly spotted by the world steel giant Arcelor Mittal who already invested in the local Kremikovtsi plant. In addition, wine and cosmetics are industries, where Bulgarian brands are getting acknowledged in the world market. In fact, for a country with population of less than eight million, Bulgaria is doing quite well. Skilled and highly educated workforce is in abundance; inflation which is around 5 percent is expected to remain in this range in the next years. It is only the recent status of corruption and crime that can barely be swept under the carpet. In March this year, Bulgaria's problems with fraud and corruption have led the EU to withdraw some of its subsidies. A month later, a popular writer on series of books about the origin of the criminal underworld in Bulgaria – Mr. Georgi Stoev was assassinated during daytime on a busy street in Sofia. It is cynically alleged that the writer, aged 35, who was previously a gang member was most probably killed by one of the characters in his last book. Although, I sincerely hope that the case is addressed adequately, I doubt it as Bulgaria has Europe's highest per capita rate of organized crime killings, with some 150 people murdered in connection with organized crime, just in the last seven years. Bulgaria and Romania are the two newest members of the EU. Interestingly, in the past when I used to live there, Bulgaria was always ahead of Romania in both political and economic terms. Nowadays however, Romania, a larger country with population of 22 million, is doing quite well and comparatively better than Bulgaria. This is the opinion not only of the local press, but also the taxi drivers in the country, who meticulously compare the current situation of the country to better-looking Romania. Some businessmen in the region consider that after Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU, their attractiveness does not soar as before. Accordingly, they highlighted the importance of Ukraine in the neighboring geography. In spite of the orange revolution in this country, politics and bureaucracy still seems to be a vicious circle. Businesses however, can hardly ignore the steel industry as well as the agricultural potential of Ukraine. EU bureaucrats had also started to closely examine the status of Ukraine. Although my next trip is to Sofia in two weeks time, it seems that Kiev will soon appear on the agenda.  Nese Yahya is the managing director of Expatia, a company providing services to foreigners who wish to settle in Turkey and foreign companies who invest here.