Vice President of the European Construction Industry Federation highlights the importance of cooperation

The head of an international advocacy forum met recently with László Koji, President of the National Confederation of Construction Enterprises (ÉVOSZ) in Budapest. Lubomir Katchamakov, Vice-President of the European Federation of the Construction Industry (FIEC), discussed cooperation and coordination between the two organisations with his Hungarian counterpart. Our newspaper asked Lubomir Katchamakov about the more detailed reasons for the visit.

Eager to represent the interests of the region at European level

A member of the board of the Bulgarian Chamber of Construction, he was elected FIEC Vice President for Small and Medium Enterprises last year, with the support of ÉVOSZ, one of the participants in the forum. He said: His meeting with László Koji went well and the two industry leaders are looking for opportunities for further cooperation.

Lubomir Katchamakov represents not only the interests of SMEs within FIEC, but also a region of Central and Eastern European countries, including Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Lithuania and Estonia. FIEC is a pan-European federation of 31 member organisations representing industry interests from 27 countries. After his visit to Budapest, Lubomir Kachamakov travelled to Ljubljana, where he met with construction industry executives.

He explained that he considers the magyarepitok.hu-led Building Connections Media Association (BCMA) its establishment, represented in Bulgaria by Vestnik Stroitel. The industry leader emphasised that the purpose of his visit was to reach a common understanding with the BCMA on how to represent issues specific to Eastern European countries to the European Commission. Lubomir Katcsamakov was accompanied on his visit to Budapest by Reneta Nikolova, editor-in-chief of Vestnik Stroitel and vice-president of Building Connections.

Countries in the region face common challenges

The industry representative also highlighted common problems in the countries he represents in FIEC, such as labour shortages. He said that he believed that these issues could be addressed more effectively through joint advocacy.

"My aim is to improve communication between our countries, so that our ideas on the professional strategy are heard at EU level," he said.

On the recovery of the domestic construction sector, he stressed that the industry has achieved very positive results.

"The growth of the Hungarian construction sector in the two years following the crisis is remarkable, also compared to other countries in the region."

Cooperation at several levels

Lubomir Katchamakov also said that it is important to find a balance between SMEs and large companies in the construction sector. The interests of the sector's players are intertwined and they need each other to improve their business situation, he said.

At the end of the interview, he also stressed the importance of digitalisation in the construction industry, noting that this is an area that the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce supports. The FIEC Vice President also made a special mention of Building Information Modelling (BIM), stressing its future role in the construction industry.

Akos Szabó

The interview was published within the framework of the Building Connections Media Association.