The International Business Club (IBC) is a joint initiative of CSD and the Ministry of Trade. It was formally inaugurated on June 17, 1993 by Mr. Valentin Karabashev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, in the presence of ambassadors, diplomats and trade envoys to Bulgaria, along with bankers, and managers of local and international companies.

The principal objective of IBC is to encourage business contacts, to popularize business opportunities in Bulgaria, and to promote a favorable development of trade and foreign investment. Since its conception in 1993, IBC has organized 26 breakfast meetings to which it has invited cabinet ministers, MPs, managers of financial institutions and private businesses as guest speakers.

The speakers of the IBC meetings in 1996 were:

• Mr. Lyubomir Filipov, Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, on February 22;

• Mr. Stefan Sofyanski, Mayor of Sofia on April 5;

• Dr. Luybomir Dachev, Deputy Minister of Education, Science and Technology, on April 14;

• Professor Zakhari Karamfilov, Chairman of the National Statistical Institute, on June 6;

• Mr. Vesselin Blagoev, Executive Director, Privatization Agency, on October 18.

Members of 42 diplomatic and trade missions to Bulgaria, along with 10 international organizations and foreign companies based in Sofia have attended the International Business Club to date. Bulgarian businessmen and bankers are regular visitors too.