Sofia, April 25 (BTA) - A Bulgarian parliamentary delegation led by National Assembly Chairman Blagovest Sendov, today left on an official visit to Moscow. The Bulgarian MPs are expected to meet the Chair of the State Duma Ivan Rybkin, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and members of the Bulgarian-Russian Friendship Group. The visit's agenda also includes talks with President Boris Yeltsin, with the Chair of the Federation Council, Vladimir Shumeiko, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev and Russian Patriarch Alexei II.
Sofia, April 25 (BTA) - The press reports of yesterday's speech by Prime Minister Zhan Videnov at the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). "In Strasbourg Zhan Videnov Pleads for United Europe" caps the leader in "Douma". PACE Miguel Martinez praised Bulgaria's peaceful transition, saying that many in Strasbourg still viewed this country as an island of peace in the conflict-ridden Balkan region, "Douma" says. "Zemya" highlights Videnov's statement that "Europe needs Bulgaria as much as Bulgaria needs Europe". The press reports of a memorandum circulated by the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) at the PACE expressing concern over the actions of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) in the three months since its coming into power. According to the UDF, with its actions the BSP is slowing down the reform and impeding Bulgaria's democratic development. The Prime Minister made his debut abroad as a decisive factor in Bulgaria's foreign policy, the special correspondent of "Continent" writes. Criticism of the type expressed in the memorandum circulated in the PACE by UDF MP Vassil Gotsev should not be viewed as something discrediting the Bulgarian Government, Videnov told "Continent" in response to a question In Brussels where Videnov will probably meet senior officials of NATO, the WEU and the EU today there is heightened interest on his opinion on issues such as Bulgaria's possible NATO membership or its alignment with Russia, the opposition UDF daily, "Demokratsiya", writes in an article headlined "Videnov Promises to Consider NATO". Three years ago the US viewed Bulgaria as one of its most reliable allies in the Balkans but after the elections last December (won by the BSP and its coalition) there emerged many doubts in respect to Sofia. Bulgaria is a source of stability in Europe and a partner that should be received on its merits in the European security structures, "Standart News" cites the Prime Minister as saying. "There Is No Recommunization in Bulgaria, Videnov Assures Europe", caps a story on the Prime Minister's speech in Brussels in "24 Chassa". "Videnov Calls for Lifting Yugosanctions" runs the headline of a story on the same topic in "Troud". According to the Prime Minister, the issue of the gradual lifting of the sanctions is a pressing political and economic necessity, the author writes.
"Douma" reports that Turkish President Suleyman Demirel confirmed before a Bulgarian parliamentary delegation in Istanbul that he would pay an official visit to Bulgaria from July 4 to 6, 1995.
"Some things can be done even before the lifting if the sanctions. The Bulgarian state could open its mission in Pale and this would be the first state mission here (...) This would not be a sin against the UN. (...) Of course you may also open a representation in the Muslim part as well," Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, President of the unrecognized Republic of Srbska, says in an interview for the special correspondent of "Pari", published in today's issue of this daily.
The Bulgarian and Romanian foreign ministers - Georgi Pirinski and Teodor Melescanu, agreed in Bucharest yesterday on the opening of ten more border checkpoints on the Bulgarian-Romanian border along the Danube in 1995. The checkpoints will be ten while now they are four, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu told "Douma".
The Cabinet will grant funds for the extension of Danube Bridge, "24 Chassa" quotes Pirinski as saying upon his return from Bucharest. The Russian Ostankino TV station did not air an interview with President Zhelyu Zhelev because of lack of funds, Mikhail Solontsev, a journalist at Ostankino, told "24 Chassa". He approached the Bulgarian ambassador in Moscow for assistance for broadcasting the interview on Bulgarian National Television.
The utilization of the revenues and expenditures underlying the macroframework of the national budget for 1995 (passed by Parliament last Friday) will create grave problems for the Government in the conditions of a continuing restrictive policy, the author of a commentary in "Douma" writes. It is high time to seek consensus between the parliamentary majority, the opposition and the Cabinet on urgent legislative and economic matters. The illegal Ilinden United Macedonian Organization refrained from anti- Bulgarian actions at its gathering on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the death of Bulgarian revolutionary Yane Sandandski organized last Saturday near the Rozhen Monastery (Southwestern Bulgaria), "Douma" writes. "Demokrastiya" calls the rally of some 50 members of the organization by the walls of the monastery "the height of impudence". "Get Up Yane and see how many Bulgarians there are to slaughter", representatives of OMO Ilinden sang at the grave of Sandanski silently observed by the police, according to "Troud". "Standart News" and "24 Chassa" cite similar slogans.
It is a bad sign for the Bulgarian minority in Serbia that the cable TV in Caribrod (in the Western Outlands which Bulgaria lost to Serbia under the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly as a result of its defeat in World War I) stopped broadcasting the programme of the Bulgarian National TV , "Demokratsiya" writes citing an announcement of the leadership of the Democratic Union of Bulgarians in Yugoslavia.
The three programmes currently drafted by the Ministry of Justice for reforming the judicial system, for amending penal legislation and on combatting crime will be ready within a a month, Justice Minister Mladen Chervenyakov says in an interview for "24 Chassa". Reporters of the Bulgarian National TV called from Turkey to say they had been detained for unknown reasons when leaving Diyarbakir and taken to military outfits for interrogation. The team of reporters were shooting a film about Turkish Kurds with a permission of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, writes "Standart News". The journalists called later to say they had been released, as the Turkish authorities offered their apologies for what had happened, this daily further says.
The former head of the Defence Ministry Trade and Logistics Department, Stoyan Tsakov, today is expected to be flown back from Moscow. Tsakov is suspected of involvement in a 1993 scandal that flared up when arms bound for Albania under an arms delivery deal disappeared on Macedonian territory, says "Standart News".
Frontpage stories today report the death of three men found shot with AK-47 assault rifle in the region of the Gabare village, Northwestern Bulgaria, on Saturday. The reports followed a release of the Interior Ministry. The three were well-known criminals, the dailies write. The complete chaos in the Interior Ministry encourages gangland vendettas, reads a commentary in "24 Chassa". The authors also says the murderers are unlikely to be found. Moon's Unification Church operates in Bulgaria under the cover of five legal organizations, writes "24 Chassa".
In 1994 a government commission reviewing applications for registration under the Religious Faiths Act turned down the registration request of Moon's Unification Church but followers of the church started public activity as early as 1986, says the story. Interviewed by "Standart News", Gen. Leonid Shebarshyn, former head of the Soviet Union intelligence, says the KGB never tried to influence the processes in Bulgaria and never recruited ulgarian agents.
World-famous singer Tom Jones will give a concert within the Golden Orpheus music festival due in August in this country, writes "Troud" citing the organizers. This daily says all the singer wants is to have a crate of ice-cold Bulgarian beer in his dressing room.
Sofia, April 25 (BTA) - The World Bank will extend the US$ 95 million it pledged give to finance the upgrading of the Bulgarian railways, the financial and business "Pari" daily says quoting Deputy Transport Minister Svetla Toshkova. Bulgarian Finance Ministry officials signed a protocol to guarantee that the government will provide its share of some US$ 133 million for the upgrading project, writes this daily. Overcoming the water crisis in this country is unfeasible without the assistance of the World Bank, that three years ago pledged to extend US$ 98 million for addressing this problems, "Douma" writes quoting experts. A lending agreement, however, should take into consideration the interests of the Bulgarian side. Having moved down the World Bank list of countries in terms of per-capita income, Bulgaria has grounds to demand that, when settlements are effected, it be treated as a poorer country, writes the author.
Bulgaria and Mongolia will launch negotiations at an expert level in a bid to set a mutually beneficial exchange rate of the transferable ruble against the US dollar and acceptable prices of goods Mongolia will deliver here, Mongolian Ambassador here Gombosuremgiin Dashdavaa tells an interviewer of "Continent". Delegations of the two countries have agreed during President Zhelev's visit to Mongolia that the MongolBulgarmetal joint venture for production of gold continue to operate, the interviewee further says. There are reasons to expect a lasting tendency of production recovery and growth but it is still early to draw conclusions about an overcoming of the crisis and stable economic growth, reads an article by Zahari Karamfilov, Director of the National Statistical Institute, published in today's "Troud".
In 1994 the Gross Domestic Product was 543,000 million leva which was 1.4% up from the previous year. Industrial output marked a 4.5% growth and for the first time in several years this country registered a foreign trade surplus, the author writes. The NSI expects the GDP to grow by 1.5% in 1995 and between 2 to 4% in 1996 (1 USD exchanges for 66.442 leva). The output of the military industrial complex increased 1.5% in the January-March period, "24 Chassa" cites Deputy Industry Minister Plamen Dimitrov as saying. The budget of the Defence Ministry will allocate some 3,000 million leva to state orders of special output. According to unnamed experts in this branch, by the end of this year Bulgaria is expecting to receive the first orders for repairing combat equipment of NATO-member states at Bulgarian military plants, this daily writes.
By the end of 1995 MacDonalds will invest between 3 and 5 million US dollars in Bulgaria, the company's executive director for Bulgaria, Tim Taylor, says in an interview for "Troud". The company plans to increase investment in 1996 by 5-8 million US dollars and for investment to exceed 10 million US dollars in 1997, Taylor says. MacDonalds plans to open new jobs for Bulgarian nationals and give work to other Bulgarian economic branches, Taylor says.
Brussels, April 25 (BTA) - Today Bulgarian Prime Minister Zhan Videnov made a speech at the North Atlantic Council, dwelling on Bulgaria's foreign policy and the major problems the Bulgarian Government had got to cope with.
The Prime Minister stated that Bulgaria's foreign policy was oriented to Europe. "The goals that we set ourselves are clear: provision of favourable external conditions to strengthen national security and the democratic development of the country, ensure economic growth and cope with some acute social problems," Zhan Videnov said.
He said that "activities to fulfill the Association Agreement with the European Union play an organizing role in the Government's foreign policy".
"Relations with NATO, WEU and OSCE have assumed crucial importance for us. We are trying to avail ourselves of the opportunities that the enlargment of NATO and WEU afford. Along with that, we are convinced that the future security architecture of Europe can be built only if the isolation of individual countries and the existence of zones with a varying degree of security are avoided," Videnov siad. According to him, NATO's Partnership for Peace programme tallies with Bulgaria's national interests and its foreign policy. He added that the adoption of the Individual Partnership Programme "ushered in a fundamentally new stage of Bulgaria's cooperation with NATO" and that it marked "the departure from verbal to concrete action".
Videnov said further on that "the unstable situation on the Balkans in recent years is one of the main sources of risks to security for us and Europe" and that is why "the regional policy holds a special place in the gamut of foreign policy activities seeking to guarantee Bulgarian national security". The Bulgarian Prime Minister said that his Governemnt had "developed and identified its regional policy by formulating three clear tasks: the integration of Bulgaria and the region into united Europe as a priority task; military, political and economic stabilization of the region and intensification of the economic problems of Bulgaria and the other countries affected by the Yugo sanctions".
"The UN Security Council sanctions on the FRY (Serbia and Montenegro) become an increasingly real threat to national security, economic growth and democratic processes in the third countries that they affect. The burden of losses caused by the UN sanctions against former Yugoslavia and sustained by the Buulgarian economy is growing and actions seeking adequate external assistance to overcome the consequences and completely solve the sanctions problem assume an ever-growing importance," Zhan Videnov said. He stated that "Bulgaria will continue to cooperate with the other states so as to devise an adequate international mechanism to support third countries that are affected by UN coercive measures". "While we recognize that they remain the key instrument of the political settlement of the conflict, we believe that the sanctions should be suspended or cancelled parallel with the peaceful, just and lasting settlement of the conflict," Bulgarian Prime Minister said.
Brussels, April 25 (BTA) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Zhan Videnov met with NATO Secretary General Willy Claes at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels today. The host expressed the North Atlantic Alliance's readiness to support Bulgaria and its new Government. He assessed as very useful Bulgaria's activity within the Partnership for Peace initiative and described as successful the joint exercises held so far. The Secretary General expressed satisfaction with the programme for 1995.
Inclusion into NATO's political and military structures requires the full consensus of the member states, as stipulated in the North Atlantic Treaty, Mr Claes said. According to the Secretary General, the key issue - NATO's enlargement, is not in the order of the day now. A more categorical answer can be expected after a 1996 conference on NATO's common defence and foreign policy. Mr Claes agreed with the Bulgarian thesis that what matters most is the way in which NATO will be enlarging eastwards.
The Bulgarian head of government also conferred with the Secretary General of the Western European Union Jose Cutileiro. Mr Videnov emphasized that European integration is a priority of Bulgaria's foreign policy. Mr Cutileiro welcomed this position, as well as the pan-European thesis of an expansion of the security systems. Balkan security was discussed and the opinion was expressed that the conflict in the former Yugoslavia must be contained to a maximum. Certain matters of the Bulgarian economy were also on the agenda: the stability of the national currency, restructuring of industry and privatization. Mr Cutileiro assessed in positive terms the Bulgarian Government's intentions in this field. He commended highly the Bulgarian representatives who work actively on the WEU commissions.Prime Minister Videnov also had e meeting with thePresident of the European Commission Jacques Santer.