The 48. World Economic Forum (WEF) started yesterday. For the fourteen consecutive year Mr. Tihomir Kamenov, founder and chairman of Commercial League Group, is the only Bulgarian member attending the Forum. In 2004 in Warsow, on the occasion of the accession of the first ten Eastern and Central European countries to the EU, Mr. Kamenov received a formal invitation to join the forum personally by the founder Professor Klaus Schwab. This year, the Forum will be attended by a Bulgarian delegation headed by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. This is the first time since 13 years when a Bulgarian Prime Minister will be present in Davos. It has already become a tradition that the Bulgarian entrepreneur Kamenov poses questions to the world political leaders. Last year, he asked the Chinese Head of State and Chairman of the Communist Party Xi Jinping a provocative question and received an answer. Earlier today Tihomir Kamenov posted a question to US President Trump in his Twitter profile: The questions is expected to provoke widespread interest, and the answer to be received this Friday, 26 January 2018, when President Trump will attend a special session on the WEF. Bulgarian Prime Minister will also be present at the assembly....

Tihomir Kamenov is the only Bulgarian - member of the Forum for more than 10 years already The Annual World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland) starts today and will continue until 26 January 2018. This year the event will take place under the motto "Creating a shared future in a fractured world" and will bring together more than 3000 statesmen, CEOs, bankers, scientists and celebrities. Tihomir Kamenov, Chairman and founder of Commercial League Group, is among the annual participants since 2004. This year, US President Trump is expected to speak to the wide Davos audience, before which Chinese Head of State and Chairman of the Communist Party Xi Jinping proposed to fill up the gap in the world leadership left after the political withdrawal of the USA. In this context, during the Forum last year Mr. Kamenov asked provocative questions to the Chinese President on Twitter....

Mr Tihomir Kamenov, Chairman of the corporate group of Commercial league, was honoured with the 2017 “Investor of the year” award for Pleven at an official ceremony. The award was granted by Georg Spartanski, Mayor of the Municipality of Pleven. “You should be extremely proud, because Pleven is a special city – it is a talent center”, said Kamenov while receiving the statuette “Ustrem” (Impetus). Chairman Kamenov also pointed out that “Pleven can easily be called a City of Health, as it has the highest number of medical specialists per capita”. You can read more about this here....

The prestigious prize “Building of the year 2017” was handed over to the Executive Director of Commercial League during an official ceremony on 14 December 2017 More than 500 construction and investment professionals, leading investors, construction companies, architects, engineers, consultants, representatives of the state and local authorities participated in the official ceremony of the 16th edition of the National Contest. The newly built and renovated buildings that took part in the competition were more than 60 from all over the country, divided into 13 categories, plus an additional audience award. All projects were judged by a 32-member jury composed of prominent professionals in construction, architecture, culture and business, and chaired by Denitsa Nikolova, Minister of Regional Development. You can read more about the ceremony here....

An overview by Sunday 150: Mr. Tihomir Kamenov, chairman of the Supervisory Board of the corporate group Commercial League interviewed at the Bulgarian National Radio in a very interesting political conversation providing the entrepreneur’s objective and unbiased standpoint faraway from Bulgaria’s domestic trivialities. He has been the only Bulgarian participant at the most authoritative global political and economic forum – the Davos one: Ms. Diana Yankulova: You have been the only Bulgarian participant at the forum in Davos. It is no exaggeration to say that this forum represents the world’s most authoritative political and financial élite. Why is our participation there so modest? - “I can hardly explain everything. Last time a Bulgarian Prime Minister showed up at the forum has been 15 years ago (and he stayed in his hotel room most of the time). There are about 40-60 heads of state or government coming every year in Davos eager to meet the main core of the global investment community. Highly paid jobs in the world are currently provided by highly educated entrepreneurs. It is also clear that self-esteem of each nation and its politicians are tightly interrelated, it has an immediate repercussion to its gross domestic product. At the end of 2016 the World Bank published the latest statistics and ranking per country by their GDP. At the end of 2015 Bulgaria was at the 80th place. I don’t know if this gives you a plausible explanation about some of the reasons why the Bulgarian politicians don’t show up. Are they not much sought-after, or they have nothing interesting to say in Davos? The truth is that in Bulgaria there is little talk on how to improve GDP and how to obtain higher self-esteem. It’s not just about GDP per capita. It's about how high the GDP in absolute figures is. Bulgaria occupies the absurd last place in the European Union and the 80th one in the world behind so many countries (like Angola).” Yankulova: These data get conveyed to the Bulgarian public by their ruling up to now politicians like this: We have economic growth higher than the EU average. This means that in economic terms our country stands very well. Our fiscal reserve is full and we are handing the state over rather tidy and all government policies are financially secured. At least this is how the now former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov summed up at the Cabinet’s last meeting. This is the flipside of your perspective from Davos. - “Let me make a very clear distinction. As a matter of fact Bulgaria undoubtedly has this growth rate and assumedly we trust statistics, i.e. a low GDP in absolute figures, nevertheless Bulgaria stands firm! We used to have at least a piece of pride that we’ve recently lost. We boasted about being a nation with no debts. We possessed the astonishing 3rd place in whole Europe in terms of low debt ratio. Now, with the last increase in foreign debt, things changed dramatically. And even at a growth rate of 2% growth remains really very low in absolute figures. Just imagine our 50-billion GDP (in dollars). Let’s compare only with countries from former socialist European states, to mention only a few, the Czech Republic, whose territory and population is comparable to the Bulgarian ones, has 4 times higher GDP. Hungary, it is true that 20 years ago big investments were poured into it by Western corporations, has 2.5 times bigger GDP than Bulgaria. So we have to be growing at least according to Bulgaria's potential, natural resources, territory, and nation’s intellectual potential, by no less than 7-8-10%, to feel calm we’re running at a good pace. 2%, given that our economy is stable but small, is a deeply low level. The objectives of the Bulgarian political parties and Bulgarian politicians should attain 8-10% growth of the country in the course of several upcoming years. I am talking about two parliamentary terms at a minimum in order to reach a decent European level. Such a growth of 2% (under the current 50-billion GDP conditions) for a nation of 7’200’000 inhabitants, of which perhaps 2.5 billion comes from the ousted Bulgarian children who work in London, the United States and all over Europe – this is extremely low.” Yankulova: This conversation about Bulgaria is going to turn into sadness. It is too obvious how we look like against the background of the European and world’s statistics from the authoritative tribune of the Davos meeting. Let's stop here because elections are at hand and no party has promised to govern in such a way that would lead to the specified by you economic development rates. -“I am talking to you as a true patriot who loves Bulgaria immensely and most part of my business activities are in Bulgaria. But keep tirelessly explaining how good we are, averagely good in Europe ...

The president and founder of the corporate group Commercial League and the only representative of Bulgaria at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Tihomir Kamenov, gave an exclusive live interview on the last day of the Forum: "The globalization question will continue to exist. The new president Trump, whom I have known for 20 years, I consider will be a successful president despite the clash of opinions that here in Davos are very polarized. The idea to make world trade more "symmetrical" does not mean that globalization is over. It is important for all people to see the results of the administration of Trump. Leadership in politics and economy is measured by results. The Chinese president, who some rightly defined as a world globalization apostle or leader, made a serious request for continued growth, entirely based on open economy as well. " "The fight against inequality is present in Davos every year and was propounded very seriously now. There cannot be global competition and global leveling simultaneously. Bulgaria is privileged because it lived in artificial equality for many years. Technology is the biggest killer of jobs; on the other hand development is possible only in this direction. This process cannot be halted declaratively, and neither can government policies achieve that. What can be achieved is some redistribution and reduction of this huge income difference in the world through different taxation, there are many mechanisms ...