The management of the Bulgarian Construction Chamber (BCC) and the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Economic and Demographic Policy Mariyana Nikolova held a work meeting. The first topic, submitted by the Chairman of the MB of BCC Eng. Iliyan Terziev for discussion, was about the increasing shortage of skilled workers in the Branch and the need to alleviate the import of foreign workers procedures. „The process of issuance of the required documents for foreigners to work in Bulgaria is very complicated and takes long time“, pointed out Eng. Terziev. The Chairman of the MB of BCC outlied that the Branch urgently needs workers of full range with construction professional qualification. „We need a national policy targeted at resolving the issue with work force deficit, which already turned into a considerable challenge for the business in general, not only the construction one“, stated Eng. Terziev. The Vice-premier Nikolova commented on her behalf the regulatory framework in this area, as well as the work done by the government in respect to simplification of workers import procedures. „The import of work force from third countries is a ticklish question, the requirements related to safety are quite restrictive“, she explained. Nikolova appealed to the BCC to prepare written proposals in relation to alleviation of the work force import process, which to be discussed by the institutions. She pointed out that one of the main reasons for the deficit of skilled workers is the lagging behind of our country in respect to vocational training. „In the previous years there was a professional training, now all schools oriented to humanities, while we are looking for professional with secondary vocational education, which are key to the business. The broken connection between education and practice must be reestablished“, Nikolova said. Hristina Hristova, Pariamentary Secretary and Manoela Georgieva, Head of the Vice-premier’s political cabinet took part in the meeting as well.