Prince Charles: I am Delighted I can Play Part in Bulgaria's Development

Excerpts from HRH's Speech at the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum Event

* I am delighted to be back in Sofia, in the very room where I launched the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum four and a half years ago. Much has changed in Bulgaria since then - mostly, I think, for the better, though perhaps that does not apply to the traffic on your roads; some would call it a sign of progress!

* I have been impressed to learn that from a founding membership of twelve companies, the number has since grown to ninety-six Bulgarian and other nation's firms. I hope that this is, apart from anything else, a sign that corporate social responsibility is now well embedded in Bulgaria as a practical and active component of business policy. The BBLF may be the youngest of the Business Leaders Forums in Central and Eastern Europe under the umbrella of The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum - which I founded, incredibly, some thirteen years ago - but under the dynamic leadership of Bill Drysdale and Maxim Behar it has grown to equal those other, earlier established organisations in Hungary, The Czech Republic and Poland in size and in the range of its activities. The IBLF network now involves the active membership of well over 400 firms Europe-wide.

* There are many excellent examples of best practice that can be shared across the IBLF network. You, too, will have ideas developed locally that could be of use not only in Bulgaria but also across the Business Leaders Forum family. As the Prime Minister has, I know, set out many times since winning the 2001 elections, business has an important role to play in the positive development of Bulgaria and its future. I am delighted that, through the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum, I can play my part in this.