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...
Bulgaria’s Economy Minister, Traicho Traikov, and the World Bank resident representative in Bulgaria, Markus Repnik, will open a forum, presenting a series of reports, in Sofia.
The main topic of the World Bank forum “Better regulation for higher growth” will be connected to possibilities for improving the business environment in Bulgaria.
Government officials, members of the European Commission, business associations and civil society will participate in the discussions.
The...
Bulgaria's finance minister has confirmed the government's revamped euro bid plans, saying in an interview for CNN that the eurozone needs countries with tight fiscal policies like Bulgaria.
"The Bulgarian currency the lev has been tied to the euro since 1999, so in a way we are already in a situation where it is as if we have the euro. I frankly think the eurozone needs countries like Bulgaria with tight fiscal policies more than these countries need it," Djankov said in an interview for...
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia are interested in investing in Bulgaria's farming, Bulgarian Agriculture Minister, Miroslav Naydenov, informs.
Naydenov made the statement Tuesday after talks with his Saudi counterpart, Dr Fahd bin Abdulrahman bin Sulaiman Balghunaim, and with the UAE Minister of Environment and Water, Dr Rashid Bin Fahd.
According to the Bulgarian Minister, the two Arab countries want to finance various project in Bulgaria's grain and vegetable production...
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...
A Bulgarian-German center was officially opened Monday in the regional, southern city of Smolyan to be used for staff training, mainly for employees working in the tourism sector.
The construction cost is BGN 2.5M. Experts will teach courses such as "Administration and Management," "Hotel, Restaurant Management and Catering," "IT Applications," "Food Technologies," and "Gardening."
The facility includes a dormitory, hotel rooms, practice kitchen, seminar and lecture halls.
There will...
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...
Bulgaria's largest English-language media, Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency), is launching the new edition of its 'International Surveys', dedicated to the relations between Bulgaria and the USA (READ HERE).
The ''American Survey" of Novinite.com is opening with exclusive statements and interviews with US Ambassador to Bulgaria, His Excellency Mr. James Warlick, and Bulgarian Ambassador to the USA, Her Excellency Mrs. Elena Poptodorova, dedicated specially to Novinite's project.
Each day...
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...
Some 300 B cubic meters of shale gas are lying untapped in central northern Bulgaria, Direct Petroleum manager for Bulgaria Kolyo Tonev has confirmed for Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency).
The discovery was made in the fall by Direct Petroleum, a US company specializing in natural gas extraction with a Bulgarian branch.
The deposit is in the so-called Etropole argillite formation and is estimated based on previous data and new sample drillings. According to Tonev, those older results were...
In June 2010, the Bulgarian government broke the news that it formally invited Chinese authorities and companies to set up and manage a joint industrial zone in Bozhurishte, right outside of Sofia, a development that can well be seen as revolutionary.
The first ever industrial factory in the Ottoman Empire, a state spanning some 18 million square km, was opened in 1833 in Sliven by the Bulgarian entrepreneur Dobri Zhelyazkov. Yet, in spite of that and other industrial sparks in Bulgaria,...
The Administrative Council of the Council of Europe Development Bank has approved two projects in Bulgaria, aimed at providing financing for SMEs in order to promote job creation and growth.
The first project is worth EUR 20 M with the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) and will make long-term resources available for productive investments by private entrepreneurs.
The other is worth EUR 5 M with the Societe Generale Expressbank and aims to facilitate access to bank credit for SMEs.
The...
Bulgarian authorities will launch 15 tenders for repairs in its notorious road network before the end of November.
The bids will concern second- and third-degree roads accross the country and are part of the second stage of the infrastructure campaign of the government that is to be executed using BGN 240 M under the Regional Development Operational Programme.
The terms of the contract will be 4-10 months, while repairs are planned to start April.
The head of the Road Infrastructure...
Bulgaria and Greece are to start a common agricultural advertising campaign, Bulgarian Agricultural Minister Miroslav Naydenov and his Greek counterpart Kostas Skandalidis revealed.
Bulgaria will advertise its meat products and vegetables, while Greece will attract attention to its olive oil. The campaign will take place as well in EU member states as in third countries.
"Romania may also be included in the common campaign," Minister Naydenov added.
Skandalidis and Naydenov decisively...
Bulgaria will introduce a flat 9% value-added tax (VAT) in the tourism sector as of the beginning of April next year under amendments that parliament adopted at second reading on Wednesday.
The legal changes were tabled to parliament by the center-right government, but drew the ire of the right-wing Blue Coalition and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms, which proposed alternative texts only to see them turned down by the majority.
The introduction of a flat VAT for the...
Bulgaria's center-right government has revived its plans to apply to join the bloc's exchange-rate mechanism, the so-called Eurozone waiting room, after it was forced to drop the euro bid in April this year over a larger than expected 2009 deficit.
"Bulgaria is likely to apply to join ERM II in the second half of 2011 after it has demonstrated that next year's budget deficit will fall below the European Union's ceiling of 3% of gross domestic product in line with the Maastricht criteria,"...
Bulgaria's government has decided to put up for sale a state-owned property in the German town of Bonn, saying it has gone out of use after the relocation of the embassy in Berlin.
At the moment Bulgaria houses its diplomatic bureau in Bonn, but the slot it owns there, spreading over 3099 square meters, is too large for it, the government said.
The starting sale price has been set at EUR 2.4 M.
Bulgaria's state-owned properties in Germany has often caused tensions to flare up. At the...
Towercom Bulgaria, which has been licensed to roll out a digital terrestrial TV network across the country, has selected Thomson Broadcast as a strategic partner, the two companies announced.
Thomson Broadcast is a brand of the French-headquartered electronics and media conglomerate Technicolor.
Towercom Bulgaria has a 15-year DTT licence and is currently building two SFN networks for national operation.
Thomson Broadcast is supplying Elite GreenPower medium and high power transmitters...
Bulgaria's cabinet has firm intentions to work on reopening traditional markets such as the Middle East, whose potential is now lost, Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, says.
Mladenov spoke Tuesday, during the fifth annual business-government meeting in Bulgaria organized by Confederation of Employers and Industrialists and the Capital weekly newspaper, pointing out during the last year trade between Bulgaria and the Middle East went up 40%.
According to the Minister, three...
Russia has requested the maximum possible price for the Belene NPP project in Saturday's negotiations, revealed Bulgarian Minister of Economy and Energy Traicho Traikov Tuesday.
The price of Belene NPP had been set initially at EUR 4 B with possible escalation, but Saturday the Russian party had requested the maximum raise previewed, which makes the total price some BGN 6.3 B.
"We must change the metaphor for Belene NPP. You've got a car that can cost only EUR 4 B when painted white and...
Bulgaria Translation