Şişecam, a global player in the glass and chemicals industries, was deemed worthy of the “Sustainable Investment Award” at the Investor of the Year Awards held by the Bulgarian Investment Agency.
The award, which was given to Şişecam in recognition of its effective long-term investments in the country, was presented to Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kırman, Şişecam Chairman and CEO by Mariana Nikolova, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism.
Candidates for the Investor of the Year Awards, held for the 15th time this year by the Bulgarian Investment Agency operating under the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, were selected by the country’s ministries, governorates and institutions from all areas of the economy. More than 60 candidates from many different sectors, from information technologies to healthcare, were evaluated by the jury members. Şişecam was the winner of the “Sustainable Investment Award” category, which was evaluated for the first time this year under the awards program.
Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kırman delivered a speech at the award ceremony. He said: “We continue our investments and growth in line with our goal of becoming one of the world’s three largest glass producers in our main fields of activity. We operate in 14 countries on four continents with 43 facilities and 22,000 employees. Today, Şişecam is the leader in flat glass and the second largest player in glassware in Europe. Bulgaria, meanwhile, is an important country for Şişecam, because of our investments here and its position as our first gateway to European Union markets. We continue our business activities in Bulgaria – where we operate in the fields of flat glass, auto glass, glassware and chemicals – in line with our vision of growth, by creating sustainable value. We are significantly contributing to the development of economic relations between Turkey and Bulgaria, while expanding our global footprint.”
While pointing out that Şişecam has operated in Bulgaria since 1997, Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kırman continued: “We have a quarter century investment story in Bulgaria. We first started our investments in the country in 1997 in chemicals. We have partnered with Bulgarian soda producer Sodi, which is in the process of privatization. For our new direct investments, we realized the first step in 2004 and laid the foundations of our basic glass, white goods glass, automotive glass and glassware plants. With these investments, we were cited as the largest greenfield investor in Bulgaria. I would like to thank the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy and the Bulgarian Investment Agency once again for this meaningful and special award presented to Şişecam. It is my hope that our cooperation will further strengthen while boosting our growth performance that creates sustainable value.”
After the award ceremony, in addition to Aylin Sekizkök, the Turkish Ambassador to Bulgaria, Prof. Ahmet Kırman met with Tomislav Donchev, Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister, Lachezar Borislav, Economy Minister, and Kostadin Angelo, Health Minister, to exchange views.