Amcham Annual Report 2012

2013 SOFIA, JANUARY, 2013 TABLE of CONTENTS Report of the Board of Directors page 1 Organizational Structure – Board of Directors and AmCham Team page 5 Key Performance Indicators page 6 Membership 2012 page 8 AmCham Events 2012 page 14 AmCham Committees & Working Groups page 24 Our Speakers page 30 International Cooperation page 34 Financial Report 2012 page 37 AmCham Bulgaria Publications page 38 In the media in 2012 page 39 Audit Report 2011 page 41 REPort of THE BOARD of DIREctors FOR THE YEAR 2012 DEAR AMCHAM MEMBErs: more foreign investments, leveling the playing field for On behalf of the American Chamber of Commerce Board fair competition were outlined to be the focus of the Jobs of Directors it is my pleasure to present you with our Diplomacy mission of the State Department. Annual Report for 2012. The conference was hosted by the Secretary of State, Further below you will see the Key Performance Indicators Hillary Clinton who said in her speech “Finally, we fun- as well as more detailed presentation of the events activi- damentally believe that increasing trade and growing ties of our committees, position papers, media coverage, prosperity will benefit not just our own people, but etc. people everywhere. Our economies are interdependent as never before, and so are our fates. America’s economic The facts and figures in the AmCham scorecard are renewal depends to a large degree on the strength of the important but it is far more interesting to see what is global economy, and the global economy depends on the behind these facts and figures. Let me focus on some of strength of America.” the highlights in 2012. These words about the interdependence of economies Partnership and cooperation – at a regional and local today are very relevant in the light of one of the funda- level mental principles that AmCham stands for partnership and In late February the U.S. State Department organized a cooperation. Let me note two examples in this respect. global business summit where representatives from U.S. In February AmCham Board paid a visit in Istanbul to business support organizations from 120 countries gath- the American Business Forum in Turkey /ABFT/ and the ered together in Washington to discuss how America’s Turkish-American Business Association /TABA/. Bulgaria foreign policy and diplomacy can champion U.S. business- and Turkey share a common cultural and historic past es abroad and drive recovery at home. The importance of which determines the importance of the economic rela- active promotion of the American companies, attracting tions between the two countries. Later in April TABA Board and member companies did a trade mission in Bulgaria to discuss opportunities for more business partnership with AmCham members. We consider regional cooperation of critical importance for achieving sustain- able economic growth and stability within the country and in the region. Our focus in future will remain in expanding such cooperation with the chambers from the neighbour- ing countries. At the same time at the local level we have experienced a wonderful partnership with the German Chamber of Commerce and the Austrian Business Circle in making the Business Ethics Conference on November 12. The forum was held under the patronage of Rosen Plevneliev, president of Bulgaria and we had as special guests Justice minister Diana Kovacheva and labor and social policy Report of the Board of Directors 1 minister Totyu Mladenov, the US Ambassador Marcie of Commerce and introducing the opportunities of doing B. Ries, Matthias Höpfner, Ambassador of Germany, business in Bulgaria. The other goal was to continue the Jonathan Allen, Ambassador of the United Kingdom, and discussion with the University of Texas and prepare the Gerhard Reiweger, Ambassador of Austria. There is no necessary future steps for the signing of an agreement doubt that the topics discussed were of great importance for a Master’s program in Bulgaria between the Ministry to the whole business community – the number of 250 of Education, Sofia University and the University of Texas. participants and the lively debate proves that. Acting in The visit in Los Angelis focused on energy efficiency sector the spirit of good corporate citizens and in line with the and the support the EBRD provides to improve energy messages of the event the three chambers decided to efficiency of Bulgaria’s residential as well as commercial donate from the revenue of the conference 30 000 leva and public buildings. Dan Berg, David Butts and Barbara to the Bulgarian Christmas charity initiative under the Lapini presented the general business climate as well as patronage of President Plevneliev. EU and EBRD funded projects. The trip continued with Let me take this opportunity and praise here the active visits at Gensler World headquarters and discussions with involvement of David Butts and Daniel Berg who were LA Port Authority representatives. one of the driving vehicles in initiating the event and The historic moment for the road show came in its sec- moderating the lively discussions. ond part when the program in Seattle and the Silicon The U.S. Business Road Show 2012 Valley was led by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev. That was a perfect synergy between the The third AmCham/U.S. Embassy business road show took Bulgarian state and the business community in joining place from May 14-18. As usual the road show aimed at efforts to promote the country in front of the U.S. com- promoting trade and investment between Bulgaria and panies and attract more trade and investments. the United States. This year its focus was innovation, high technologies, tech parks and business incubators Seattle is a center of innovation in the United States and for start ups. The U.S. Ambassador James Warlick and the stop here highlighted Bulgaria’s efforts to strengthen the AmCham President Peter Lithgow led an impressive the link between education and the innovative industries. delegation of business people: Daniel Berg, EBRD, Alex The visit started with presentation in front of companies Nestor, Dundee Precious Metals, Borislav Dimitrov, Cisco, representing a variety of sectors, followed by IT round- David Butts, CMS Cameron McKenna, Elena Marinova, table that gave the opportunity for U.S. IT firms doing Musala Soft, Alan Levy, Tishman, Tony Kitchukov, Delta business in Bulgaria as well local Bulgarian companies to Mechanical, Roman Vassilev, Johnson Controls, Atanas share their experiences with other U.S. companies in the Garov, Colliers, David Prater, ITT Exelis. IT field. The topics include the IT clusters, e-government, business incubators and tech parks. The visit ended with First stops were Austin and Los Angelis. a reception at Pacific Institute that was kind to host There were two main objectives for the visit in Austin. One the meeting of the Bulgarian expats in Seattle with the was the meeting with members of the Austin Chamber President and the delegation. President Plevneliev has also meetings with Bill Gates and representatives of his foundation where it has been discussed the online education, improvement of teachers’ qualification and the entrance of new high technologies in the education. The last stop of the road show was San Jose and the Silicon Valley. The President and the delegation had meetings at Google, HP and Cisco. The President presented the idea of Sofia Science and tech park in front of NASA Research center and later on in front of San Jose BioCenter business-incubator. The science and tech park was presented as a platform for startups and innova- tions in IT technologies and biotech, a place that latest technologies can be developed. During the visit at Cisco’s headquarters and the meeting with John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco it was discussed the role of technology and IT adoption in driving economic 2 Report of the Board of Directors AmCham position statement and then initiate the round- table on the renewable energy. I would like to use this example to ask the whole membership for more proactive approach and helping the Chamber with expertise when we participate in either working groups or public discussions in the legislative process. This appeal goes to law firms, consultant companies and any members that can share knowledge and expertise. We are also satisfied to witness the increased role of our committees in CSR, tax and finance and HR. We are happy that these good examples have inspired our members and in September we set up two new bodies – Public Procurement and EU funds committee and Quality Management working group. The numbers of participants in the committees’ meetings tells about the interest and the need of such structures. At the Board level we believe that the committees can play not only the role of forums for sharing best practices but also as think tanks where growth and competitiveness. John Chambers informed opinions on important pieces of legislation and economic the President about Cisco’s activities in Bulgaria and policies are formed and developed. The committees reconfirmed the company’s commitment to the country’s should be the ideal place where AmCham positions and innovation policy. Later the Bulgarian President and the statements are formulated which afterwards can serve delegation met with more than 100 Bulgarians in Opera for a basis for our communication with the government House in Los Gatos in San Jose. The establishment of on the economic agenda and business priorities. the first Bulgarian school in Northern California and Last but not least is the support of the Chamber of its of Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce in San Jose were members’ initiatives. There are many proposals that come announced at the event. to the Board and we take a careful look at them trying The organizers of the road show the American Chamber to identify those initiatives that can bring the maximum of Commerce and the U.S.

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