(Dan Tri) – Weapons factories in the Bulgarian city of Kazanlak are operating at full capacity since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Outside the weapons factory of Arsenal company, Bulgaria (Photo: AFP).
Bulgaria’s arms industry has never seen such strong growth, with exports estimated to reach 4.3 billion USD in 2022 (about 4 billion euros), three times the previous record.
The country’s oldest arms manufacturer, the Arsenal company, already has 7,000 workers at its factory in Kazanlak but is even offering the best incentives to attract more manpower, including employment.
`When recruiting us, they said there were so many orders that we would be busy for at least five years,` said one of the newly hired workers at this company.
Although Bulgaria hardly sends weapons to Ukraine, the country is an important arms producer in the region.
Before that, Kazanlak and its surrounding rose valley, famous for its rose water products, suffered heavily when its arms manufacturers lost the market after the collapse of the Soviet Union, although
Yordan Ignatov, Vice President of the local Chamber of Commerce, said the Arsenal factory’s rapid development this time is beneficial for the whole city.
Investment is also booming in this city.
Bulgaria specializes in the production of ammunition for Soviet-era weapons, the types Kiev uses most on the battlefield today, although Sophia is looking to modernize its aging production facilities with money pouring in from Europe
And there was more good news earlier this week when foreign ministers of European Union (EU) countries agreed on a plan to buy $2 billion worth of artillery shells to supply to Ukraine.
To promote the deal, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton last week visited arms factories in Bulgaria.
Supplying weapons to Ukraine is a controversial issue in Bulgaria.