On 2 March 2022, the German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce (AHK Azerbaijan) and the Plovdiv Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) organised a hybrid kick-off meeting and a digital coaching session for 18 participating companies on the topic "A new digital approach to further develop the CCI (Cultural-Creative Industries) sector". The workshop was organised within the framework of the project “Create.Industry! – Bridging Culture and Creativity of Bulgaria and Azerbaijan”.

The meeting started with the welcoming speeches by the Executive Director of AHK Azerbaijan, Mr Tobias Baumann and the President of PCCI, Mr Angel Hronev. 

In the first module of the workshop, the Head of Arts Council Azerbaijan, Mr Dadash Mamedov held a speech on “Development of the Creative Industry sector as part of national economy”.

Following this, the CEO of Poertner Consulting, Mr Andreas Poertner, informed the participants comprehensively on the topics “Support on Digitalisation of the Creative Industry” and “Access to international markets, access to finance, improvement of competencies/skills, development of public and private strategies”.

In the final part of the meeting, Azerbaijani and Bulgarian companies were provided with the opportunity to clarify questions and discuss the current business opportunities and challenges, as well as possibilities they can access through this project.

The project “Create.Industry! aims to contribute to the development of international partnerships in creative industries from the rural areas in the fields of handicrafts, design & fashion, visual & performing arts. The SMEs have an opportunity to showcase their businesses to the EU and Azerbaijani counterparts and institutions. The project “Create.Industry! – Bridging Culture and Creativity of Bulgaria and Azerbaijan” is funded by the European Union's EU4Business: Connecting Companies (EU4BCC) initiative, which is managed by EUROCHAMBRES.