29.07.2010

Economy

Bulgaria Still Stands Chances to Attract Huge Investment by Austria's Voestalpine

The decision of the Austrian steel giant Voestalpine AG to make a large-scale investment in a new steel plant in the Black Sea region is still up in the air, the company told Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency).Voestalpine announced in early 2008 that it planned to invest EUR 5 B in the building of a steel plant in either Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey or Ukraine.Bulgaria appeared to be the forerunner in the competition for attracting the massive Austrian investment with Bulgaria’s former Minister of Economy and Energy Petar Dimitrov and Alfred Dusing - Chief Financial Director of the steel department ...

29.07.2010

Economy

Spain's Grupo Ortiz, Electra Set Up JV for Bulgaria Market

Spain's energy group Electra Holding announced it has joined forces with Madrid-based construction firm Grupo Ortiz to work on infrastructure projects in Bulgaria and other countries in Eastern Europe.The construction company will hold a majority stake in the newly formed joint venture company, which is called Ortiz Electra and plans to run in tenders for the construction of railways and purifying stations.In April energy holding Electra announced it plans to build a 100 MW wind power park in the central part of Bulgaria and has already bought 5000 decares of land.Electra started its activities ...

29.07.2010

Economy

Lufthansa Technik Expands in Bulgaria

Lufthansa Technik Sofia, a joint venture between Germany’s Lufthansa Technik and the Bulgarian Aviation Group, announced it will invest in the construction of new facilities for aircraft overhaul and maintenance near Sofia Airport.The company, which has served so far 40 planes of more than 20 airlines in Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa, said it has been flooded by orders and will accept no more by the end of 2011.Another 35 aircraft will be serviced over the next 17 months.The maintenance, repair, and overhaul complex located at the airport of the Bulgarian capital Sofia was opened ...

29.07.2010

ABOUT BULGARIA

Bulgaria's Population Crisis Worsens Despite Rising Birth Rate

Bulgaria's population growth is not improving despite the rise of its birth rate largely due to migration, according to latest Eurostat data about the population of the EU.Bulgaria was the country with the highest death rate of all 27 EU member states in 2009 - 14.2 per 1000 inhabitants. The average EU 27 death rate in 2009 was 9.7 per 1000 (a total of 4.8 million deaths). Bulgaria is followed by Latvia (13.3‰), Hungary (13.0‰) and Lithuania (12.6‰), while the lowest death rates were in Ireland (6.6‰), Cyprus (6.7‰), Luxembourg (7.3‰) and Malta (7.8‰).Bulgaria’s death rate is about the same as ...

29.07.2010

ABOUT BULGARIA

Bulgaria, Greece Set to Open New Border Crossing

Bulgaria and Greece will be opening a new crossing point on their joint border, announced the state leaders of the two nations.After the first ever joint sitting of the governments of Bulgaria and Greece took place earlier on Tuesday, the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov received Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou.Parvanov and Papandreou confirmed the upcoming opening of the Ivaylovgrad-Kiprinios border crossing point located in the south of Bulgaria and in the very northeast of Greece.This will be the fifth crossing on the 493-km long Bulgarian-Greek border, which already has four border ...

29.07.2010

Ecology

Extinct Plant Species to Come Back to Bulgaria

Extinct and rare plant species will be brought back to four protected areas in Bulgaria, under the framework of a new environmental project of the EK Life+ program.The project is implemented by the Bulgarian Forest Agency and the international ecological conservation organization WWF.“11 habitat types along rivers and wetlands in ten protected areas are expected to be restored. Also, plants like the white and yellow water lilies are expected to be brought back under the program,” said Katerina Rakovska from WWF.She noted that a while ago the two lilies could be seen in the Persina Nature Park, ...

27.07.2010

Construction

Opening of Plovdiv’s Markovo Tepe Mall targeted for November 2010

The target date for the opening of the Markovo Tepe Mall in Plovdiv is November 2010, according to Melina, the Bulgarian-Israeli firm that is the investor in the project.The mall was proceeding on schedule, Melina said, after being asked whether the project was running to plan given previous media reports that it would open in spring 2010."Due to the current market situation there is no investor that is not making very careful research when is the best to open a shopping centre in order to guarantee the success of the mall and the retailers," a statement said.In spring 2010, three large-scale ...

27.07.2010

Real Estates

Fall in Bulgaria Residential Property Prices Slows Down in Q2

The average asking sales prices for residential property in Bulgaria continued to fall, though slightly, in the second quarter of 2010, official data shows.Residential property recorded a negligible, average decrease of 0.8% for second quarter of the year after falling by 2.3% during the previous quarter, data of the statistics office shows.The year-on-year comparison shows an average decrease of 9.7%. Prices fell by 7.8% on an annual basis in the first quarter of 2010.More significant price reductions have been registered in 13 regional centers with the biggest slumps in Gabrovo - 8.3%, Shumen ...

27.07.2010

Economy

Bulgarian Economy Minister Vows Focus on 3 Knowledge-Based Sectors

Bulgaria's government will be focusing on encouraging the development of three hi-tech sectors, announced Economy Minister Traicho Traikov.“We have carried out a sector analysis, and we have figured out our priorities. We must encourage the sectors with high added value. We have identified three such sectors – IT, bio and health technology, and green technology,” Traikov told Nova TV speaking about his ministry's activities in the first year of the term of the Borisov government.He pointed out further that the Cabinet's measures have led to increasing the payments that Bulgaria receives from the ...

27.07.2010

Finance and Taxes

BNB: EU Stress Test Proves Stability of Bulgarian Banks

The European bank groups represented in Bulgaria, which took part part in the pan-European bank stress tests demonstrated stability and high capital adequacy, the Bulgarian National Bank declared in a statementThe European banking system stress tests were organized according to a decision of ECOFIN and were coordinated by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) in cooperation with the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and the consolidating national supervisors.The BNB points out that the purpose of the tests was to evaluate the capacity of the European banking system ...

27.07.2010

Interesting

Bulgarian Archaeologists Discover Wealthy Prehistoric Settlement

Bulgarian archaeologists have found what has been described as a “wealthy” 8000-year-old town close to the Danube city of Ruse.The town, which flourished between 5 800 BC and 5 500 BC had well-organized streets and even two-storey houses with oak floors.“The ceramics that we found here is of a very high-quality, and with no analogy compared to other settlements from this age. People of this period had taste, and we can say they had an aristocratic style,” explained archaeologist Dr. Svetlana Venelinova from the Regional History Museum in the city of Shumen.The newly-found prehistoric settlement ...

27.07.2010

Iceland Formally Begins Talks for EU Membership

Iceland formally begins negotiations to become a member of the EU Tuesday, July 27, as voted by the member-states' foreign ministers Monday.The Nordic country is a member of the European Economic Area, having been party to the European Free Trade Association from as early as 1970. It has much of its law aligned with the acquis communautaire.A concern remains over Iceland's fisheries, a trade traditional to the country, which some believe might not be compatible with EU's complex and binding common policy in the field.A big impulse for the initiation and speeding up of the process of Icelandic ...

22.07.2010

Economy

Zara Confirms Bulgarian Expansion

Spanish company Inditex, parent company of Zara and the world's largest and most internationalised fashion retailer, announced its intent to open three more stores in Bulgaria this year.The store in the capital Sofia will be located on the fashion street Vitosha, but the location of the other two shops – in the Black Sea town of Burgas and Stara Zagora – was not immediately clear.The company however is known to have signed contracts for the opening of stores in the Gallery malls, which will also feature some of its other brands, such as Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka.Inditex has also ...

22.07.2010

Economy

Sofia Swaps Market Hall for Russian Church Park

The Sofia City Hall will swap its shares of the Central Market Hall in order to become the owner of the park near the Russian Church, both in the downtown of the Bulgarian capital.The proposal comes from three municipal councilmen from the ruling center-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party and one from the far-right, nationalist Ataka party, and will be voted during the City Hall's last meeting Thursday, before their summer break.According to the proposal the company Ashtrom will acquire the entire Central Market Hall, where the municipality now owns 25% while the latter ...

22.07.2010

Economy

China Tycoon Richard Li Ready to Invest in Bulgaria's Vivacom - Report

Chinese billionaire Richard Li, who controls Bulgaria telecommunication company Vivacom, is ready to invest Vivacom in a bid to restructure its debt, reports Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.For the investment, Chinese telecom PCCW owned by Li would allegedly help out Li's troubled Pinebridge private equity fund."While PCCW and Pinebridge have no formal relationship beyond being companies controlled by Li, they plan to rescue Vivacom by jointly investing €180 million (HK.81 billion) in return for a 51 per cent stake," writes South China Morning Post.According to the edition the two ...

22.07.2010

City-planning

800 m tunnel under construction in Mladost neighbourhood

Started the construction of the tunnel of Sofia subway under Alexander Malinov blvd. This is the last section of the first subway axis connecting subway station 13 in Mladost at the corssing of Andrey Saharov blvd. and Jerusalem blvd. with station 19 at Tsarigradsko shose blvd. at the Expo Centre. It will have three levels - two tunnels and the existing Alexander Malinov blvd. There project provides for two tubes, connection with Business Park Sofia, connecting galleries, draining shafts. Every tube is 400 m long and 35 m wide. The underground works will be done by the so-called "new Austrian ...

22.07.2010

ABOUT BULGARIA

US Ambassador Congratulates Bulgaria’s Cabinet on Its Strong Will for Reforms

The Bulgarian government has made important rule of law reforms during the last year, as noted in the Report of the European Commission on Internal Affairs and Justice. We welcome the strong reform momentum Bulgaria has shown since the Commission’s last annual report in July, 2009. This includes the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code which are vital in the fight against organized crime and corruption.The report also notes the importance of further progress on judicial reform, to improve efficiency, accountability and consistency of the judicial process. The U.S. government strongly supports ...

22.07.2010

Tourism

Bulgaria's Burgas Airport Registers Busiest Day

The airport in the Bulgarian city of Burgas, which is close to the Sunny Beach resort and the UNESCO heritage town of Nessebar, has registered its busiest day of the year.On Tuesday, July 20, the Burgas Airport had the record number of 142 flights; the overwhelming majority of these were charter flights bringing in tourists.Usually, during the height of the summer season the Burgas Airport, which is the only airport along Bulgaria's southern Black Sea coast, services about 120 flights daily.The largest numbers of foreign tourists coming to Bulgaria through the Burgas Airport are from Germany, ...

20.07.2010

Economy

Bulgaria's Delayed Hydropower Project to Resume in Sept - Report

The construction of Gorna Arda hydropower project in southern Bulgaria is likely to be resumed in the autumn, a local daily reported, citing insiders. The news comes as Austria’s energy firm EVN and Bulgaria’s dominant state power utility NEK are expected to sign an agreement for the project in the framework of the visit of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in Vienna, starting Monday. Construction works at Gorna Arda site will most probably start a few weeks after the signing of the contract, Standard daily reported. The report echoes the forecast of Vladimir Urutchev, MEP from the ruling GERB party, ...

20.07.2010

ABOUT BULGARIA

Bulgaria, Romania Move Closer to Joint Skies

The heads of the Bulgarian and Romanian Air Traffic Services met in Sofia to discuss the DANUBE FAB project, making an important step forward in its realization.The Director General of the Bulgarian State Air Traffic Services Authority, Diyan Dinev, and his Romanian counterpart, Bogdan Donciu, President of ROMATSA, held talks Wednesday and Thursday to align their future joint action s for the management of the project in order to adhere to the December 4, 2012 EU deadline of establishing of a Functional Airspace Block in the airspace of Romania and Bulgaria.The project entered a crucial stage ...