The announcement followed Borissov’s meeting in Duesseldorf with Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger. “The gunpowder factory will be as big as two German factories here, the largest in Europe. This is the scarcest commodity at the moment, and I am extremely grateful to Mr Papperger for choosing the grounds of the Vazovski Mashinostroiteleni Zavodi (VMZ) for this huge factory,” Borissov said.
He described the planned 155 mm artillery shell plant as “extremely important for the Bulgarian army and for Europe as a whole,” noting that it would target a production capacity of 100,000 rounds. “We have informed the European Commission of these two projects, and we have ensured the funding on the part of the Bulgarian State through the SAFE (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) mechanism,” Borissov stated.
“All this must be completed within the next three weeks so that it can be submitted to Parliament for ratification,” Borissov added. He also mentioned a further project under discussion, a drone design and building factory, which could be either a new facility or an extension of an existing operation.
Borissov thanked Rheinmetall executives for regularly sending teams to Bulgaria since March and expressed appreciation to Papperger for recognising the country’s industrial potential. “Bulgaria is an extremely important country for Europe, but also an extremely important country for Rheinmetall,” the CEO said in the same livestream.
“Rheinmetall, together with Bulgaria, will soon build at least two factories in Bulgaria, the first of which for artillery shells,” Papperger declared. “Even more important is our gunpowder joint venture,” he added, emphasising that the Bulgarian government and Rheinmetall would jointly invest over €1 billion in the production facilities.
This was Borissov’s third meeting with Papperger this year, following discussions in April in Germany when he said he had sent Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov a detailed investment offer for a gunpowder factory. Their talks in March in Bulgaria included a Rheinmetall delegation and a meeting with President Rumen Radev.
Source: Bulgarian News Agency.
