'Guns And Roses': Bulgaria Arms Trade Booms On Ukraine War

Kazanlak, Bulgaria, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Mar, 2023 ) :With its huge munitions factories and endless rose fields, Kazanlak in central Bulgaria has been really living up to its "Guns and Roses" nickname since Moscow's conflict with Ukraine started.

Bulgaria's booming arms industry has never had it so good, with exports estimated at $4.3 billion last year (about four billion Euros) -- three times its previous record.

The country's oldest arms maker Arsenal, which already employs 7,000 workers in its Kazanlak plant, is offering seaside holidays and other incentives to attract staff.

It has even been tempting back Bulgarians who left the Balkan country to find work abroad.

"When they hired us they said there are orders to keep us busy for at least five years," one of the newly hired workers told AFP at the factory gates.

"I have only been here a week myself, but I already have three new colleagues," said the woman, who would not give her name.

While you might think it would be trumpeting its success from the rooftops, the company did not reply to AFP requests for an interview.

Although Bulgaria itself has largely not sent arms to Ukraine because of the EU member's historic ties with Moscow, that is where Kazanlak's burgeoning production is mostly destined.

Its arms and munitions are instead being bought up by neighbouring Romania and Poland before being funnelled to Kyiv.

Kazanlak and the "Valley of the Roses" around it, which is also famous for its rosewater, suffered badly when its arms makers lost their markets when the Soviet bloc collapsed in 1989.

Arsenal's upturn "benefits the whole town", Yordan Ignatov, deputy chair of the local chamber of commerce, said.

"Last year, Kazanlak had the lowest unemployment rate in the country after Sofia," he added, half the national average.

Investment is also booming.

"Everything that is built is bought," real estate agent Teodor Tenev told AFP.

Bulgaria specialises in ammunition for Soviet-era weapons -- those most used by Kyiv -- though it wants to modernise its ageing production facilities with European money to start churning out NATO-standard shells and other ammo.