Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov officially launched Sunday afternoon the newly-finished Lyulin Highway linking capital Sofia to the E-79 international road to Greece.
Present at the ceremony was also Bulgarian Minister of Infrastructure Rosen Plevneliev and EC DG Regional Development director Dirk Ahner, who said he was "greatly optimistic" about the developments he is witnessing in Bulgaria.
The 19-km highway connects the western arc of the Sofia beltway to the E-79, bypassing the Lyulin...
The Bulgarian Constitution will be amended by June to enforce the provisions of the new Financial Stability Pact, announced PM Boyko Borisov Sunday.
"I hope for the support of all political parties to the Financial Stability Pact, which will turn Bulgaria into a respected and highly trustworthy state," said Borisov in an interview for Nova TV.
The so-called Pact, envisioned by Minister of Finance Simeon Djankov includes three main pillars, to be enforced by constitutional and legislative...
Bulgaria will continue building and finishing highways, with Trakiya to be ready in 2012 and Maritsa in 2013, promised Minister of Infrastructure Rosen Plevneliev.
Sunday Plevneliev, together with other high ranking officials will be present at the official launch of the Lyulin Highway, which will connect the Sofia ringroad to the E-79 international road to Greece.
The Infrastructure Minister commented that the construction of the Trakiya Highway, set to connect Sofia to Burgas on the...
The Bulgarian State Railroads, BDZ, are launching for the first time in the summer business class cars.
The news was announced Saturday by Transportation Minister, Aleksander Tsvetkov, who said in an interview for Darik radio trains with such cars will start running on June 1, 2011.
Fares for business class will be 20% to 30% higher than the regular ticket, but these cars will offer more comfort, wireless internet, tea, coffee and other beverages.
The Minister further informed the EU...
The European Commission's approval of the first stage of the construction of the waste plant near Sofia is expected in just weeks, according to the Head of the Regional Policy Directorate, Dirk Ahner.
Ahner is on a working visit to Sofia over the weekend. He inspected Saturday the construction site of the "Lions' Bridge" metro station, part of the second segment of the subway, financed by the EC.
The EC representative explained the approval would mean construction of the compost...
Smart consumption, smart machines, and smart infrastructure is the future of energy efficiency, according to Hans van der Loo, Vice President of Shell International and head of the company's EU Liaison Office.
Van der Loo was in Bulgaria's capital Sofia on Friday delivering a keynote lecture entitled "The Future of Low-Carbon Transport" on the occasion of the 20th year since the founding of the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria and the 20th year since the entering of Shell on the Bulgarian...
Bulgaria's government has moved a step closer to packing together its stakes at the stock exchange and the depository in a bid to sweeten the deal for the bourse privatization.
The central bank announced on Thursday it has decided to transfer its 20% stake in the central depository to the finance ministry.
The two thousand shares will be purchased at their nominal value of BGN 100 apiece.
Following the acquisition of the central bank stake, the Finance Ministry will hold a 44.9% stake...
Bulgaria expects an year-on-year growth of some 70% in the number of Russian tourists for the 2011 summer season, according to consular officials.
A total of 10% more foreign tourists are expected in Bulgaria in 2011 as a whole, Deputy Economy Minister in charge of tourism Ivo Marinov forecast in Ruse Friday, as cited by BNR.
In his words, most of the foreign tourists in Bulgaria will be from Russia, Germany, Central Europe, and other Balkan countries.
Marinov stressed the fact that...
Chinese companies have demonstrated committed interest in investment in Bulgaria's agriculture, according to Agriculture and Foods Minister Miroslav Naydenov.
Naydenov met Friday with a Chinese business delegation, including Tianjin State Farms Agribusiness Group Company, which declared its readiness to rent 100 000 decares of land, mostly in Northwestern Bulgaria.
Tianjin State Farms Agribusiness Group Company is seeking to buy or rent 12 000 decares in the Vidin District, and more land...
Coca-Cola Hellenic has announced new investments in Bulgaria's capital Sofia amidst the celebrations of Coca-Cola's 125th birthday.
Sofia has been selected from among 14 other cities in Europe for the setting up of a United Center for Human Resource and Financial Services of Coca-Cola; the center will be opened in the fall of 2011, and will employ 200 Bulgarians.
Over 500 guests including clients, partners, journalists, and senior government officials attended the large-scale birthday...
The consumer price index (CPI) in Bulgaria in April, 2011, compared to March 2011 was 100.2%, i.e. the monthly inflation was 0.2%.
The data was released Thursday by the National Statistics Institute, NSI.
The group 'food and non-alcoholic beverages' had the largest upward impact on the total CPI that measures the change in prices of the goods and services, used by Bulgarian households for private (non-production) consumption.
The inflation rate since the beginning of the year (April...
The Bulgarian Finance Ministry has reassured a senior delegation of the World Bank of the country's economic prospects in the context of the Partnership Strategy between Bulgaria and the international financial institution.
Peter Harold, Director for Central Europe and the Baltic at the World Bank, was welcomed in Sofia Friday by Deputy Finance Minister Boryana Pencheva.
The two delegations' talks focused on the schedule of the Bulgaria-World Bank Parnership Strategy in light of the...
A new dry spent nuclear fuel storage facility was officially launched at Bulgaria's Kozloduy NPP by the country's PM, Boyko Borisov, and Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov.
The measure aims at implementing greater nuclear safety.
The German NUKEM Technologies-GNS has been contracted by Bulgaria to build the depot, which will cost EUR 70.5 M. The new facility will accommodate casks with spent fuel from the plant's four closed units, currently stored in wet pools, and will be...
UniCredit SpA (UCG), Italy's biggest bank and Vienna-based Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) have bought tender documents to broker Bulgaria's 33% stake sale in an E.ON AG unit, Bloomberg agency reported.
A total of 14 financial companies have purchased tender documents.
Other competitors that will probably submit bids by a May 27 deadline include Greece's second biggest lender EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA (EUROB) and United Bulgarian Bank, a unit of the National Bank of Greece SA,...
In a highly controversial statement, Bulgaria's economy minister has defended, though half-heartedly, the flourishing gray sector in the country, saying that still it generates growth.
"If we have to choose between gray economy and no economy, Bulgaria is definitely better off having gray economy," Minister Traicho Traikov told the morning broadcast of bTV channel on Wednesday.
"Gray or not gray, these are economic activities, which generate gross domestic product," the minister...
Sofia Airport, Bulgaria's largest international airport, is preparing the technical proposal for a small-scale public procurement for the overhaul of Terminal 1, the company announced.
Under the overhaul plan, sections with damaged stucco coating and plaster cornices will be repaired, together with an overall repainting of the walls and the ceiling in the building.
The floorings of the "Departures" and "Arrivals" public zones will be replaced.
The repainting of the walls is already...
In the first quarter of 2011, the newly built residential buildings in Bulgaria were 601, according to the preliminary data of the National Statistical Institute, NSI, released Tuesday.
Compared to the same quarter of 2010, the number of these buildings increased by 16.7%, but the number newly built units in them fell by 5.3% to 3 109.
The largest number of residential buildings and dwellings has been built in Varna - 103 buildings with 564 units in them. Burgas is second with 94...
Bulgaria might chose to press for short-term contracts for natural gas delivery with Russian giant Gazprom after 2012, stated vice-Minister of Energy Mariy Kosev Tuesday.
Bulgaria's contracts with Gazprom expire end of 2012 and the Russian company has until end of June to specify terms for a possible long-term extension.
"Should the conditions for a long-term contract that Gazprom formulates this summer prove to be unfavorable for Bulgaria, we will be requesting short-term contracts,"...
In the period January - March 2011 Bulgarian exports to non-EU countries increased by 55.9% year on year.
The data was released by the National Statistics Institute Tuesday.
In the first quarter of 2011, the exports amounted to BGN 3.7 B.
The main trade partners of Bulgaria were Turkey, Russia, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and China, forming 49.1% of the total exports to non-EU countries.
The exports to South Africa, India, Croatia and the Ukraine increased...
Bulgaria is fully committed to developing its nuclear energy sector, stated PM Boyko Borisov at a foreign investment forum held in Sofia Tuesday.
In the past year or so, there has been an ongoing uncertainty how far Borisov's center-right GERB cabinet will further the project for the construction of a second NPP at Belene, contracted with Russian Atomstroyexport.
"If we give up on nuclear energy, we will have to face the fact that our neighbors such as Turkey will not have done the same...
Bulgaria Translation