Bulgaria offered some of the best investment opportunities from all countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Economy and Energy Minister Roumen Ovcharov said.

Ovcharov, together with other European official opened the annual meeting of economy ministers from member states of the Organisation for European Cooperation and Development (OECD) Investment Compact.

Bulgaria turned out to be the second best investment destination in the region after the Czech Republic, Ovcharov said during his opening speech.

For the first quarter of 2006 foreign investment in Bulgaria reached 775 million euro or twice higher than the sum for the same period the previous year.

Bulgaria was also included for the first time in the economic competitiveness list IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2006. The country ranks 47th among 61 economies evaluated.

According to the analysis some of the advantages Bulgaria has to offer include high economic growth rate, low taxes, budget surplus and stable macroeconomic environment.