Choose Bulgarian!
Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) account for 99 per cent of the Bulgarian economy and attract 67 per cent of the investment made in this country, Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Luchezar Borissov said on April 7 at the opening of the seventh edition of the “Choose Bulgarian!” exhibition. Borissov cited a pan-European survey showing that Bulgaria ranks sixth in positive expectations of the development of the business environment in 2006. More than 350 SMEs from across the country, mainly from the lighting industry, took part in the exhibition at the National Palace of Culture. This year’s edition, which continues till April 17, has a Regional Development Hall where nine municipalities present their development by structure, economy, tourism, infrastructure, project programmes, prospects and difficulties.

Anti-poverty Plan
The Cabinet approved on April 5 an update of the 2005-2006 National Plan Against Poverty and Social Exclusion, adding more than 500 million leva to the original budget of two billion leva for 2006. The additional resources will target the poorest groups. Other changes in the plan lay emphasis on occupational training and retraining, the building of occupational skills, and helping persons who cannot cope on their own. The national programme From Welfare to Employment will create 42 000 full-time jobs this year. The programme has been modified to encourage sustainable employment. A total of 58 million leva has been earmarked to cover social security and minimum wage costs where employers hire young people, people with disabilities, orphans, single parents, ex-convicts, long-term jobless people and members of other particularly disadvantaged groups.

National Network
The State Agency for Information Technology and Communications (SAITC) will use the deployed security and defence fibre-optic network as a platform for the launch of a national voice and data-casting grid. Agency chairman Plamen Vachkov announced this on April 6. The ownership of the security and defence fibre-optic network was transferred from the former telecom monopoly Bulgarian Telecommunication Company to SAITC in late 2005. The network consists of two main systems with a combined length of 1500km.

Concession Limit
The term of a concession can be up to 35 years without right of extension, Parliament decided, passing provisions to the new Concessions Bill at second reading on April 6. When determining the duration of a concession, consideration will be taken as to its financial and economic indicators and the specific technical and technological parameters of the concession site. The procedure on the award of a concession will include approving a decision to open a procedure, and conducting an open procedure, a restricted procedure or competitive negotiations, followed by a selection of a concessionaire. The site of a concession may include its neighbouring infrastructure, existing facilities or such built by the concessionaire.
Concessions may be awarded for construction, service or extraction. CEFTA PLEA
Meeting in Bucharest on April 6, the heads of government of eight South East European countries and Kosovo adopted a joint declaration urging negotiations on an expansion of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA). The declaration adopted at the meeting says that, under Stability Pact auspices, the parties will conduct official negotiations and conclude an agreement on admitting the countries of the region into CEFTA. Addressing the meeting, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said the deepening of regional co-operation was a primary factor for the region’s stability and prosperity.

Greek Initiatives
Outgoing Greek ambassador to Bulgaria Prokopios Mantzouranis unveiled on April 6 details of financial support for the construction of medical treatment facilities in the Bulgarian cities of Smolyan and Kurdjali under the Hellenic Plan for the Economic Reconstruction of the Balkans. Mantzouranis discussed the projects during his most recent tour of Bulgaria. He told a news conference that under one of the initiatives, Greece has granted 1.2 million euro to build a cancer clinic in Smolyan, whose construction may begin by the end of this year.

Anti-Spam
Bulgaria will declare unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) illegal if Parliament approves an Anti-Spam Bill voted on by the Cabinet on April 5. The bill, expected to be enacted within the next three months, shifts UCE oversight from the Communications Regulation Commission to the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC). E-mail users who do not wish to receive spam can register their accounts with CPC, which will maintain a no-e-mail register. Before sending out commercial e-mails, the companies will have to check if the recipients figure on the no-e-mail list. The new bill holds internet hosts harmless against the content stored on their free servers. Internet service providers will not be liable for enabling the transfer of illegal information. The owners of free servers will incur liability only in cases when a competent authority has warned them that they are storing illegal content and the owner of the free server has failed to act promptly to remove the content or disable access to it.

More Tourists
Between nine and 10 per cent more tourists are expected at the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Sunny Beach this summer season, tour operators said on April 6. Most of the tourists spending their holidays at Sunny Beach are from Germany. This year their number is expected to increase by 12.1 per cent along the southern Black Sea coast and 46.7 per cent along the northern Black Sea coast. The number of British tourists is expected to increase by 50 per cent. Some of the hotels are been 100 per cent already booked for the entire season.
Sunny Beach is the largest Bulgarian seaside resort. This year the tourist season starts on May 4, when the first tourists from Germany are expected to arrive.