Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association (BICA) will host the General Assembly of The meeting of representatives of the largest employers’ organizations in Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Bulgaria will be held on April 1st in Sofia Hotel Balkan.

During the event in Sofia the possibilities for reforms of the educational systems will be discussed, in order to overcome the gaps between the skills and knowledge of employees and the requirements and needs of the labor market. These discrepancies are one of the biggest challenges currently threatening the growth and creation of sustainable jobs globally. For example, they are causing Europe to lose EUR 0.80 per hour worked because of reduced productivity and are a factor slowing down economic growth. According to the European Commission, all Member States are experiencing a similar problem, although for different reasons and for different reasons. According to data from an international survey in ten Member States, this indicator is above the global average of 45%, with the worst in Romania (81%), Bulgaria (68%) and Greece (61%). At the other end of the spectrum, with lower values ​​but still with significant problems, are Ireland (18%), the United Kingdom (19%) and the Netherlands (24%).

The General Assembly will be opened with opening remarks by the chairman of BICA and the host of the event, Mr. Vasil Velev, and the president of the largest Polish employers’ organization, Andrzej Malinowski, who is also the rotating chairman of the ICCEU. During the meeting in Sofia, the President of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Russia, Alexander Shokhin, will present the experience of Russian employers in harmonizing the labor market. Dr Milena Angelova, Vice-President of the European Economic and Social Committee and Secretary-General of the BICA, will present the support of educational systems to overcome the gaps between labor market demand and supply.

Vice President of the International Congress of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Vyacheslav Pshennikov will also take a special part in the session of the General Assembly of the ICCEU.

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About the ICCEU

The International Coordinating Council of Employers’ Unions was established in 2010. It is composed of nationally representative employers’ organizations from fourteen countries in Eastern and Central Europe and Asia. Its aim is to facilitate the establishment of sustainable links and cooperation between national unions of employers and entrepreneurs, to exchange experience in the field of regulation of social and labor relations, to devise measures to accelerate economic growth in view of similar economic problems in the countries of region.