WORLD REPORTS

n the run-up to Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union in January 2007, the Eastern European nation of 7.8 million people is attracting a significant amount of foreign direct investment.

   One of the latest large projects is Hewlett-Packard‘s Global

Belgian copper company Cumerio is expanding its facility in Pirdop, Bulgaria.

Delivery Support Center in Business Park Sofia that was set to open in June. The operation will eventually employ 1,000 IT professionals to service customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

   On the industrial side, Belgian copper company Cumerio plans to invest 82 million euro (US$105.8 million) by 2008 to build a new refinery and boost capacity at its copper smelter in Pirdop. Cumerio acquired the smelter in 1997 during the privatization of the Bulgarian copper industry. The expansion will increase capacity by 120,000 tons of cathodes per year to a total of 180,000. Cumerio cites the emerging copper consumption market in the Black Sea region and its projected annual growth rate of more than 4 percent as a reason for the expansion. Alcoa in May opened a consumer goods plant in Stara Zagora, its first facility in its 43rd manufacturing country.

   French automotive parts manufacturer Montupet is investing approximately 80 million leva ($53.1 million) to build a new factory in Rousse and create more than 800 jobs. The plant will supply automakers in Central and Eastern Europe.