President Plevneliev's Veto Survives Parliament Vote
(Sofia, Jan 12) - Bulgarian MPs supported President Rossen Plevneliev's veto on the Investments Encouragement Act and returned it for further discussion.
Only three MPs supported the Act, 24 voted against it and 95 abstained from voting.
President Plevneliev vetoed the new law because, as he made it a point, the new regulations for residence of foreign investors in Bulgaria create many obstacles for their business activities....
Bulgaria to Start Nabucco in June 2013
(Sofia, Jan 11) - The construction of the Bulgarian section of the Nabucco pipeline will start in June 2013, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov informed at the first ministerial meeting of the project in 2013 in Sofia.
As the current head of the rotating presidency of the project, Bulgaria is calling for fix deadlines, the PM said. By June Bulgaria will have all the construction permits and mining companies from the "Shah Deniz-2" field will decide...
Construction of NPP Kozloduy's Seventh Reactor to Start in 2016
(Sofia, Jan 12) - "The first sod of NPP Kozloduy's seventh reactor will be turned in 2016," Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Ministry Delyan Dobrev said.
His statement was also supported by Sergey Tsochev, chairman of Bulgaria's Nuclear Regulatory Agency.
"The preparation of the necessary analyses and documents regarding the selection of a site for NPP Kozloduy's seventh reactor is to be completed in the second half of...
Bulgaria has secured a one-year extension to repay the 250 million euro bridge loan arranged by BNP Paribas to fund preliminary work on the planned Belene nuclear power plant on the Danube River, Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev said on May 7, as quoted by Focus news agency.
The option to postpone the due date was contingent on securing 55 million euro for immediate repayment of the amounts loaned by Belgium's Dexia and Japanese bank Mizuho. The funds will be provided to state electricity...
Sun Edison this week sold Bulgaria's largest solar park to a consortium of investors for Ј142m. The 60.4-megawatt Karadzhalovo solar park in southern Bulgaria began operating in March and cost Ј144m, according to the International Finance Corporation, which helped fund the project....
An enormous new vacation complex is to be build on Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea coast, announced Atanas Stoilov, Mayor of the Municipality of Aksakovo near Varna.
Stoilov told reporters Tuesday, as cited by Darik Radio, that the new resort will be built between the village of General Kantardzhievo and the Albena resort complex on a plot of 300 decares.
In his words, the project first started several years ago when it was initiated by French investors. After one of the investor's...
Bulgaria's State Commission for Energy and Water Regulation, DKEVR, has already adopted one of the Electricity and Gas Directives, requested by the European Commission.
The statement was made Friday by the DKEVR Chairman, Angel Semerdzhiev.
It was reported Thursday that EC is referring Bulgaria, Estonia and the United Kingdom to the Court of Justice of the European Union for failing to fully apply the EU internal energy market rules.
According to the EC's press office, to date...
Italian companies may be attracted in privatization projects, including for tourist sites, as well as concessions agreements and modernization schemes for airports, and construction and reconstruction of road and railway infrastructure in Bulgaria, according to Minister Bozhidar Lukarski.
Speaking Tuesday at the opening of an economic forum titled “Bulgaria and Italy: Together for Achieving Growth”, Lukarski pointed out that the trade and economic cooperation between Bulgaria and Italy...
12 July 12, 2017, Sofia. Miss Hosting (one of the largest Scandinavian hosting providers) announced that it has chosen Sofia as it global center of operations. The company plans to hire up to 100 people in the next 2 years to support its global growth as well as its entry into the Bulgarian hosting market.
The company is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden with offices in Miami, USA, Nashik, India and local presence in Norway,...
Bulgarian company REnergY has announced plans to construct 15-20 charging stations for electric vehicles in the capital Sofia.
REnergY's pilot project entitled "Electromobility" was presented at the two-day high-level conference in Sofia dedicated to the development, introduction, and use of electric cars called "Electric Cars – Challenges for New Mobility."
The company presented a prototype of an electric charging point that it has developed.
REnergY will built the electric charging...
Japanese corporation Toshiba will open a regional representation in Bulgaria that will handle its operations in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
Thus, Bulgaria will become the second European country after the UK with an EMEA operations office of Toshiba, according to the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism.
Bulgaria's Economy Minister Traicho Traikov met Friday in Sofia with senior Toshiba executives Osamu Tomita and Keizo Honda as part of a...
Bulgaria's government has hopes the country will be able to assume a leading innovation role with respect to the development and use of electric cars, Economy Minister Traicho Traikov has suggested.
Speaking at an international conference in Sofia Thursday entitled "Electric Cars – Challenges to New Mobility" Traikov declared that since electric cars are an innovative and new product, "new players" can assume a major role in the development of this market, hinting that Bulgaria has...
About a dozen strategic and financial investors have declared interest in the privatization of Bulgaria's state cigarette producer Bulgartabac Holding, according to Economy Minister Traicho Traikov.
Unofficial information reported in the Bulgarian media says that the bidders seeking to purchase Bulgartabac include companies from Bulgaria, Greece, and South Korea.
Traikov has announced that next week the government will announce its decision on the privatization method – i.e. whether...
Bulgarian Minister in charge of EU funds absorption Tomislav Donchev has invited firms from Northern Ireland to do business in Bulgaria.
Four construction sector companies were among eight Northern Ireland firms to attend a briefing recently hosted by Invest NI on doing business in Bulgaria, reports 4NI.
During the briefing Donchev urged them to seize business opportunities resulting from investment by the Bulgarian government in infrastructure and its business base.
The event was...
The breaking ground for the largest so far shopping mall in Bulgaria will be made in June 2011, in the area of the southern loop of the capital Sofia's beltway.
The news was reported Wednesday by the Minister of Regional Development, Rosen Plevneliev, who, together with the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, inspected the construction of the road junction "Simeonovo" to the "Mladost" junction on the beltway.
The mall will have an area of 180 000 square meters and the investment amount is...
Israeli holding, named Bulgarian Agriculture Properties, is planning to invest in the vegetables production and processing sector in the Bulgarian city of Yambol.
As a result, about 2500 new job positions are expected to be revealed in the city.
Last week representatives of the company visited Yambol following the invitation of the Chair of the Municipal Council, Nasko Stefanov, who had asked the Yambol mayor, Georgi Slavov, to point out suitable sites for greenhouse and summer production...
Bulgaria’s Economy Minister Traicho Traikov and Greece’s Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos opened Saturday a new tobacco processing plant in the Bulgarian town of Sandanski.
About EUR 9.5 M have been invested in the new plant of the Greek Leaf Tobacco company and it will provide jobs for 600 people.
The new facility will be connected to the central production hall of the company in Policastro, Greece.
The plant in Sandanski, which has a production capacity of 4 to 6 tons per...
Japanese companies are exploring opportunities to use the Bulgarian ports on the Black Sea and the Danube for their trade with the European Union, according to the Bulgarian government.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, who is in Japan on a four-day visit (January 22-26, 2011) heading a sizable Bulgarian government and business delegation, met Monday with Hiromasa Yonekura, Chair of Nippon Keidanren, the Japan Business Federation, and CEO of the Sumitomo Chemical company.
The news...
Emerging markets private equity investor CVCI, a subsidiary of the alternative asset management division of investment bank Citigroup, has acquired a 37% stake in Huvepharma, the Bulgarian animal health company announced.
The price of the deal is EUR 75 M.
The purchase was wrapped up on November 30 after it got a seal of approval by the European Commission.
The deal involves a primary issuance as well as a stake purchase from controlling shareholders, including Advance Properties, a...
Toshiba and Tokyo Electric Power will set up a local joint venture with the Japanese government to build one of the world's largest solar power stations in Bulgaria, according to a report.
The plant will be located near the Bulgarian city of Yambol and will cost more than 100 billion yen (USD1.2 B), Japan's Nikkei business daily said.
According to the report the plant is expected to be built by March 2012 with an output capacity of roughly 50,000 kilowatts, which will be gradually...
Bulgarian company IWC Bulgaria 4 owned by German Innovative Wind Concepts is planning a new wind park in the northeastern part of the country near the city of Shumen.
The park located by the Krasen Dol village will include 21 wind generators, at 2-3 MW each. The yearly turnout of energy is expected to be over 100,000 MWh.
The wind energy facility, which is expected to start working in 2013, will cost some BGN 150 M.
The Ministry of Economy and Energy has issued a "Class-A" grading of...
Bulgaria is one of eight new countries that have made their way into the top 30 destinations for globally sourced activities for the period 2010-2011, all of which are in emerging markets, according to a Gartner report.
Five of the new entrants made their debut in the top thirty list (Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Colombia, Mauritius and Peru), along with three re-entrants (Panama, Sri Lanka and Turkey), shows the report entitled "The top 30 countries for globally sourced activities for the period...
The delegation of the Bulgarian Atlantic Club, which was on a week-long official visit in South Korea, has come home with several specific business projects underscoring the special interest of Korean companies in Bulgaria.
The visit of the delegation of the Bulgarian Atlantic Council to South Korea is the first of its kind in the 20-year history of the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Korea.
The delegation consisting of the President of the...
The Dzherman hydro-power plant, an investment of "Electricite de France Energies Nouvelles" (EDF EN), was formally opened in Southwestern Bulgaria on Saturday.
French energy company, which is one of the largest in Europe, has invested a total of EUR 4.16 M in the hydro-power plant.
The plant has a capacity of 3 MW; it will be producing about 10 500 MW/h of electricity a year. It was opened by Bulgaria's Economy, Energy, and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov and the new French Ambassador to...
Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov has emphasized the plans and efforts of Bulgaria's government to attract large-scale investments from the People's Republic China.
"China is the economy of the 21st century. We've seen growing interest from Chinese investors of coming to our region, specifically Bulgaria," Djankov said at the Bloomberg Businessweek European Leadership Forum in London, as cited by Bloomberg.
Bulgaria's Finance Minister, a former senior...
Austrian companies have shown interest in taking part in the project to build a second Bulgarian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in the Danube town of Belene.
The information was reported Tuesday by Dr. Michael Angerer, Commercial Counsellor with Austrian Embassy in Bulgaria, during a conference dedicated to the competitiveness of Bulgaria's economy.
Austrian businesses can become subcontracts in the construction, Angerer said, adding Austria is very interested and follows closely the...
The future industrial zone in Bozhurishte near Sofia, which is expected to be developed as Bulgarian-Chinese project, will be the site of the first ever high-technology park in Bulgaria, CEO of "National Company Industrial Zones" Kiril Nikolov told Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency).
In an exclusive interview for Novinite.com, Nikolov made it clear that the project for an industrial zone at Bozhurishte to be managed jointly by the governments of Bulgaria and China's Zhejiang province is well...
Bulgaria's renewable energy legislation needs to be harmonized with EU laws in order to attract major foreign investors such as AES, US Ambassador in Sofia James Warlick told Novinite (Sofia News Agency).
In an exclusive interview for the "Bulgaria-US Survey" of Novinite.com, Warlick pointed out that the Bulgarian Parliament must focus on harmonizing the country's Renewable Energy Sources Act with other EU countries.
In the recent months American energy giant AES, which already made...
German discount supermarket Aldi, known for its aggressive price policy, is considering the possibility of stepping on the Bulgarian market, according to local media reports.
The company has registered a subsidiary in Bulgaria through its Austrian chain, branded as Hofer, Trud daily reported.
The news comes just days before German discount retailer Lidl opensits first stores in Bulgaria on November 25 2010 in a move that will heat up further the competition in the sector.
The shops...
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