Bulgaria will become the largest producer of ski in the world by 2013, the industrial manager of Amer Sports Bulgaria Yordan Lambrev announced at the Bulgaria: Business UP investment conference in Sofia.

Finnish company Amer Sports bought the ski manufacturing plant in the southern Bulgarian town of Chepelare four years ago, and has invested more than EUR 30 M in it since, Lambrev stressed.

In his words, Amer Sports Bulgaria was hoping to reach the production figure of 1 million pairs of ski but the belated winter in Western Europe foiled these plans, with Amer Sports Bulgaria producing 860 000 pairs of ski in its plant in Chepelare last year; the factory employs 700 people.

"We hope that next season the winter will be favorable to us, and we will reach the figure 1 million pairs of ski," stated the Amer Sports manager.

The First International Investment Conference "Bulgaria: Business Up" started in the Bulgarian capital Sofia on Friday.

"Bulgaria: Business UP" is a new initiative designed to analyze and promote Bulgaria's advantages as a foreign investment destination.

The goal of the "Bulgaria: Business UP" investment conference is to present to the international business community the highly favorable investment climate in Bulgaria as well as the variety of opportunities for successful and sustainable business that the country has to offer.

"Bulgaria: Business UP" is organized by Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), the largest Bularian English-language media, and Novinite.bg, a Bulgarian-language news website, together with the InvestBulgaria Agency.

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