Bulgaria must boost the administrative capacities of its local authorities, among other measures, in order to attract more FDI in the new global economic environment, Kraft Food Bulgaria CEO Antoine Collette recommended at the Bulgaria: Business UP investment conference in Sofia.

Collette was one of the keynote panelists in Panel 4, "Bulgaria - Dreamland for Investors", of the conference in which the CEOs of top foreign investors were brought together with Bulgarian Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev and InvestBulgaria Agency CEO Borislav Stefanov.

In his address to the almost 400 conference participants in the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan, Antoine Collette pointed out that large international investors are now focusing on individual locations and clusters, rather than on entire states, when taking investment decisions.

Thus, he noted, one of Kraft Foods' Bulgarian hubs, the town of Svoge right to the northeast of Sofia, gets compared with Kraft Foods' other European hubs such as Loerrach in Germany or Bludenz in Austria.

"This means that local municipal councils and mayors in Bulgaria are becoming more and more important, and that they need a paradigm shift in their thinking and administrative capacity. At present, the Bulgarian local authorities still lack an awareness of the highly competitive international environment in which manufacturers operate as well as an understanding about how the municipalities can cooperate with the respective investors to achieve a win-win situation," Collette stated.

He did note an instance of closer communication with the mayor of Svoge thanks to his interview for the "Investors of the Decade" Survey of Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) and Novinite.bg.

The First International Investment Conference "Bulgaria: Business Up" started in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Friday.

"Bulgaria: Business UP" is a new initiative designed to analyze and promote Bulgaria's advantages as a foreign investment destination.

The goal of the "Bulgaria: Business UP" investment conference is to present to the international business community the highly favorable investment climate in Bulgaria as well as the variety of opportunities for successful and sustainable business that the country has to offer.

"Bulgaria: Business UP" is organized by Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), the largest Bularian English-language media, and Novinite.bg, a Bulgarian-language news website, together with the InvestBulgaria Agency.

One of the conference's highest-profile speakers, Antoine Collette took up his appointment as Executive Director of Kraft Foods Bulgaria, in the summer of 2011. His professional experience began in Peugeot Austria, after that he worked for the marketing departments of Henkel France and Danone France. He continued his career in Danone Hungary & Czech Republic as a Marketing Director. Before joining Kraft in Bulgaria, Antoine Collette worked for Kraft's head office for CEEMA region.

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