We use necessary cookies for the proper operation of the website and, with your consent, analytics cookies for traffic and content usage statistics. Learn more HERE.
We bring together companies, industry organisations and experts to support the development of Bulgarian industry.
The Confederation of Bulgarian Industry (CBI) was among the first business organisations established after the beginning of the transition from a planned to a market economy.
The organisation was founded on 22 December 1990 and registered by Sofia City Court on 29 April 1991 under the name Union of Bulgarian Industry (UBI). Its founders included more than 100 major Bulgarian companies, a number of institutes and higher education institutions, experts from the Ministry of Industry and Technology, and others. The Executive Director of Arsenal, Ivan Ivanov, was elected the organisation’s first President and Chair of its Management Board.
During its first years, the organisation built its capacity and sought to represent business both in Bulgaria and abroad. It became the only Bulgarian member of the International Congress of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, with the ambition of bringing together Bulgaria’s diverse business community — then also undergoing a transformation of ownership — and serving as its voice.
Meanwhile, the mechanisms of social partnership and tripartite dialogue began to emerge and become established in Bulgaria. The National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC), the Economic and Social Council (ESC), the Association of the Organisations of Bulgarian Employers (AOBE), and a number of business-oriented non-profit organisations were created.
Over time, it became increasingly clear that uniting the entire business community in a single organisation was neither possible nor necessarily desirable. In Bulgarian conditions, this was an unsolvable task, particularly as no such arrangements existed other than those established by law and through compulsory membership in certain EU countries. For Bulgaria, compulsory membership was unthinkable after the advent of democracy.
The organisation did not succeed in finding its place in civil society, and its activity gradually declined. There were already enough “licensed” nationally representative employers’ organisations and sectoral employers’ organisations, in which the employer function was more strongly represented and more actively encouraged by legislation. A number of economic think tanks also emerged and developed, focusing mainly on macroeconomic analysis. Their analyses were not poor, but understandably lacked a sufficiently strong connection with microeconomics and practice, and their recommendations were often delayed, inadequate or influenced by their sponsors.
There is no recognisable association representing industry, the manufacturing sector and the processing industries — in other words, those who create material goods, yet do not receive sufficient public recognition or support in an increasingly deindustrialised Europe (the EU) and Bulgaria.
To fill this gap, a group of CBI Management Board members undertook the revival of the Confederation’s activities in 2025–2026.
CBI will seek to be one of the strong voices of those who create material goods and without whom modern civilisation would be unthinkable.