American firms will invest several billion euro in Bulgaria. Two projects were launched yesterday - AES began the construction of a power unit for the Maritza-Iztok 1, a coal-fired thermal power plant, while Hewlett-Packard opened a global service centre in Bulgaria.Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister Rumen Ovcharov, the US Ambassador to Bulgaria John Beyrle and the AES President Paul Hanrahan turned the first sod. Around 1.4 billion euro will be invested in the power plant."Besides being the largest energy project in southeast Europe, this is also the largest investment in Bulgaria by American firms since the beginning of the transition period," said the US ambassador. The new power plant will be equipped with two 670-megawatt reactors. The first one has to be ready in 36 months and the second one in 42 months.HP's new global center will service the clients of the company from Europe, Middle East and Africa."HP sees Bulgaria as a strategic partner," said Sasha Bezuhanova CEO of the company for Bulgaria.
Marin Minchev