ARMIN ZERUNYAN: TRANSPARENCY IS KEY TO BULGARIA'S PROGRESS

Novinite Insider » INTERVIEW | July 30, 2002, Tuesday // 00:00

Armin Zerunyan has been General Manager of Hilton Sofia since August 2000. Before coming to Bulgaria, he was General Manager of Hilton Fujairah, UAE and previously has worked at different positions in Hilton hotels in Turkey, Germany and USA. Born in Istanbul, with German citizenship, he speaks German, English, Turkish and Armenian.

Mr. Zerunyan answered questions of novinite.com.

Q: If you could be prime minister for one day, what changes would you make in the country?

A: If I was PM of Bulgaria for one day I would make it much simpler and easier to obtain an invoice (faktura) when shopping or spending money. In the current system to ask for an invoice is rather counter productive and extremely cumbersome. Anybody who eats in a restaurant or simply buys something from a shop should get a cash receipt that is easily generated by a cash register and recognized by the tax authorities when submitted as expenses. As it is so difficult to get a "faktura", most people are simply not asking for it anymore. I'm sure the inefficiency of the current system is costing the state a lot of tax income, mainly VAT.

Q: Do you consider your business in Bulgaria successful? Why?

A: Yes, I consider the Hilton Sofia successful as a business as we are running a high quality, world class hotel operation that is increasing it's returning customer base steadily since the opening. The financial results are also improving on a monthly basis and we are able to deliver positive results in line with our projections for the year 2002.

Q: What are the three main factors in the Bulgarian business environment that help your business grow?

A: Stability of the country vs. other countries in the region, highly skilled, young human capital and prospects of joining the NATO and EU.

Q: What are the three main obstacles to the development of your business?

A: Cumbersome bureaucracy, lack of transparency in the market and the strong presence and influence of the lords of the grey (unregistered) economy.

Q: What are the corporate values of your company and how does the management promote them?

A: Our corporate values are: Doing our very best, doing it different and doing it better than the competition by offering consistent first class service, leading edge facilities, innovative new products, a relaxing environment and the way we communicate.

Q: What do you think is a realistic date for Bulgaria's EU accession?

A: Realistically my opinion is that Bulgaria would not be ready before 2010 to enter the EU. There is still a long way to go.

Q: What are Bulgaria's advantages compared to other central and Eastern European countries?

A: The progress that has already been made on the way to EU accession and the stability reached, gives Bulgaria some advantage over some Eastern European Countries in the region. However, fact is that Bulgaria needs also to catch up with several other countries in Central and Eastern Europe who made better use of their time, in particular, in the early years after the changes in 1989.

Q: How could Bulgaria attract more foreign investors?

A: By accepting the fact that the only way to speed up progress and improve the life standard of Bulgarian people is to create a bureaucratic system that is transparent and facilitates progress through increase in direct foreign investment, without being afraid of that the country's sovereignty will be put in jeopardy.

Q: In your opinion, is there functioning market economy in Bulgaria?

A: There is certainly a functioning economy in Bulgaria, which is moving steadily in the right direction but unfortunately at a speed much lower than desired. To call it a "well" functioning market economy is yet a little bit too early but it is certainly going in the right direction.

Q: What in your opinion is Bulgaria famous abroad with: women, yoghurt, sports wines or something else?

A: Bulgaria is known for all of those things you mentioned but there is a new one that was added last year and that is the current Prime Minister, the first monarch in history who was elected after his return from exile as prime minister by popular vote. I'm sure as the country develops, Bulgaria will create further new and modern "icons" that will jump to peoples minds when mentioning Bulgaria.

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