News from Bulgaria / Nov 17, 95

From: bulgaria@access1.digex.net (Embassy of Bulgaria)

Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Directory

EMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.

BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY

BULLETIN OF NEWS FROM BULGARIA

CONTENTS

[01] PRESIDENT ZHELEV RECEIVES CHIEF OF FRIEDRICH NAUMANN FOUNDATION

Sofia, November 16 (BTA) - The liberal idea in the post-communist society topped the agenda of a meeting between Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev and the chief of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation Regional Bureau, Dr. Jurgen Wikert. The President's Office said the meeting was informal: one liberal visiting another.

Dr. Wikert is in Sofia to attend an international seminar on "Partnership for Liberal Change" that opened today at Sofia's Sheraton Hotel. The forum was organized by the Sofia bureau of the foundation in connection with the setting up of a Council for Liberal Politics and Political Education to operate with the foundation.

[02] BULGARIA FULFILLS OBLIGATIONS UNDER CFE TREATY

Sofia, November 16 (BTA) - By November 7, Bulgaria has fulfilled its obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, Major General Lyubomir Gechev, department chief at the General Staff of the Bulgarian army, told a news conference at the Defence Ministry today. The 40-month term for completion of the third, and last, stage of reduction of conventional forces exceeding the CFE Treaty target figures, expires tomorrow, Gen. Gechev recalled. Bulgaria signed the CFE Treaty on November 19, 1990; Parliament ratified it with a law on September 13, 1991 and it took effect on November 9, 1992. The CFE Treaty provides for the reduction of a total of 49,000 military units: 33,000 of them in the former Warsaw Pact members and 15,000 in NATO countries, Gen. Gechev recalled. Under the CFE Treaty, since 1992 Bulgaria have destroyed 794 combat tanks, 332 armoured combat vehicles, 410 artillery units and 100 combat aircraft, said Gen. Gechev. Over the past years, Bulgarian military units were many times visited by multinational military inspections under the CFE Treaty schedule for control on arms reduction. Bulgarian military for their part participated in such inspections in other countries that are parties to the treaty. The upcoming delivery of 105 T-72 tanks and 100 armoured personnel carriers with which Russia will partly settle its debt to Bulgaria spells reduction of an equal number of tanks and armoured personnel carriers of the Bulgarian armament, Gen. Gechev said. However, the equipment will be no longer destroyed but remodelled. The 120-day period for inspecting the implementation of the CFE Treaty starts on November 17, Gen. Gechev said. Data show that all signatories to the CFE Treaty, except for Russia, have fulfilled their obligations. The former Yugoslav republics - some of which are Bulgaria's western neighbours - have not signed the Treaty, Gen. Gechev said.

[03] INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR TO DISCUSS PROSPECTS FOR EUR

Sofia, November 16 (BTA) - The place of Bulgaria is in the future expanded European Union, former Western European Union (WEU) secretary general Willen van Eekelen told a news conference here today. He is in Bulgaria to attend an international seminar on "Prospects for Integration" that opens here tomorrow to continue until November 18. The seminar is co-organized by the Netherlands-based Centre for European Security Studies and the Bulgarian Institute for Social and Political Analyses.

Mr van Eekelen believes that Bulgaria's participation in concrete initiatives such as Partnership for Peace, for example, is very important because it shows this country's desire for integration into European and Western European structures. According to him, however, the accession to economic and political structures should come before the entry into military structures. The former WEU secretary general also said the WEU is trying to adopt a unified approach to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the nine EU associate members, Bulgaria being one of them, will have a chance to get the same status with the WEU.

The major issues to be discussed at the seminar will be the prospects for West-East integration in the sphere of security; minorities and foreign policy; the relations between civilians and military. The forum seeks to assess the actual ability of Eastern European countries for integration into European structures, said Nansen Behar, chief of the Institute for Social and Political Analyses.

The Director of the Centre for European Security Studies, Prof. Dr. Peter Volten said the fact that the seminar will be held in Bulgaria demonstrates their desire to bring to a higher level the process of Bulgaria's integration into European structures.

[04] COUNCIL OF MINISTERS DECISIONS

The Cabinet approved a draft treaty for friendship and cooperation between Bulgaria and Latvia, as a basis of negotiation. The Minister of Foreign Affairs was authorized to hold the talks and sign the document.

The ministers approved a draft agreement between the governments of Bulgaria and Yemen, amending the intergovernmental accord on the exchange of immovable property for the needs of the diplomatic missions of the two countries signed in December 1983. The change was necessitated by Yemen's unification in 1990 and the moving of its capital, and, respectively, of the Bulgarian mission, from Aden to Sana.

The government approved the mandate of the Bulgarian delegation for the forthcoming visit of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Genady Udovenko on November 19 and 20. It approved a bilateral accord on the avoidance of double taxation, initialled earlier. During Udovenko's visit, the sides are expected to sign an intergovernmental accord on joint operation of the ferry service between Varna and Ilichevsk, Baltov announced. The sides will also sign agreements on cooperation in trade and on bilateral trade in 1995 and 1996.

At a working meeting on Saturday, the Council of Ministers will continue discussion of the draft 1996 national budget. The draft is expected to be finally approved next week and moved to the National Assembly by the end of November.

[05] DEPUTY PM KIRIL TSOCHEV BACK FROM MOSCOW

[06] GREEK PRESIDENT STEPHANOPOULOS TO VISIT BULGARIA

Sofia, November 16 (BTA) - Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos will make a three-day official visit to Bulgaria in the beginning of next week at the invitation of Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev. Bilateral relations will be in the highlights of the talks. Bulgaria's accession to the European Union and the assistance which Greek, being a EU member-country, may exert to this effect are likely to figure on the agenda, the President's Press Office told BTA. At his scheduled meetings with representatives of the executive President Stephanopoulos will discuss Bulgarian-Greek economic relations in detail. The Greek head of state and the delegation accompanying him will confer with Prime Minister Zhan Videnov and Government members. The Greek President is going to meet National Assembly Chairman Blagovest Sendov and Bulgarian Patriarch Maksim. On the third day of his visit Costis Stephanopoulos will address Bulgarian Parliament. The programme of the guest also envisages a visit to Plovdiv (Southern Bulgaria) and a meeting with the city authorities.

[07] CARNEGIE REPRESENTATIVES STUDY BULGARIA'S

Sofia, November 16 (By Ani Parmaksizyan of BTA) Representatives of the Balkan Studies Centre of the US Carnegie Foundation - Prof. Dr James Brown, Dana Allin and John Rooper, arrived in Sofia today to study Bulgaria's possible inclusion in the second Carnegie report on the Balkans. The report will be made by an international committee headed by former Belgian prime minister Leo Tindemans. "We discussed the problems of the region, for us it was important to hold this meeting," John Rooper told journalists after the representatives of the Carnegie Foundation were received by President Zhelev today.

"Their purpose is to prepare a report by next June, setting forth their views of the development of the Balkans as an integral part of Europe," presidential advisor on religious affairs Mihail Ivanov, told the press after the meeting. According to him, the guests showed interest in the causes of Bulgaria's relative success in preserving its image of a modern state in these difficult for the Balkans times. Something in which some Balkan states have failed. The representatives of the Carnegie Foundation also inquired whether Bulgaria could not play the role of an initiator of the solution of problems in the Balkans related to migration and crime. President Zhelev said that Bulgarians are a tolerant nation and that this country is striving not to be isolated from the current processes in Europe, Ivanov added. According to the information he has at his disposal, the representatives of the Carnegie Foundation have confirmed meetings with National Assembly Chairman Blagovest Sendov and Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski and are expecting a confirmation of a meeting with Prime Minister Zhen Videnov. They will also have meetings with public figures and scientists.

No doubt the Balkans were and are a dangerous and interesting zone. Dangerous because they are a field of conflicts and politicians have always had to find radical and rapid solutions so as to prevent conflicts from spreading from Europe's periphery, as the Balkans are perceived, to its heart, Prof. Milko Lalkov, specializing in Balkan history, said when asked whether there was a need for a second Carnegie report on the Balkans. The first Carnegie report was published in 1914 after the Balkan wars of 1912-1913.

In a radio interview today Prof. Lalkov said the Balkans were an interesting zone because "they can be used for experimenting, for seeing in vitro how conflicts develop in a region of ethnic, religious and historical tensions so as to work out formulae and recipes applicable not only in the Balkans by in other regions of similar problems in the world." Prof. Lalkov was sceptical as to the ability of the political scientists included in the team to show "academic perseverence and study the realities in the Balkans in their depth instead of slipping along the surface of the present political facts". Early last April Sofia hosted an international conference "The Carnegie Report and the Balkans Today", organized by the Free and Democratic Bulgarian Foundation established by Yvonne and John Dimiter Panitza. The scientists, politicians, public figures and journalists taking part in the seminar, united around the conclusion that eighty years after the Balkan wars the situation on the peninsula bears too many analogies, the contradictions have not been solved and peace and stability remain a desired but unachieved goal.

The Conference, which was also attended by President Zhelyu Zhelev and National Assembly Chairman Blagovest Sendov, raised many issues to which there are no simple answers: on the interrelations between the Balkan peoples, the causes and effects of the frequent conflicts on the peninsula and the conflicting interests and the policy of the great powers in the region.

[08] BULGARIA TO JOIN INTELSAT

Sofia, November 16 (BTA) - Bulgaria will accede to the Agreement of the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization INTELSAT, the Government decided today, approving a proposal moved by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Territorial Development and Construction Doncho Konakchiev. The Government authorized the foreign minister to sign the Agreement on behalf of Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Telecommunications Company will represent Bulgaria in INTELSAT, Government Spokesman Nikola Baltov said after the session. The Agreement provides for the company to be in charge of the financial aspects of Bulgaria's membership in INTELSAT. The INTELSAT Agreement has been in force since 1973 and is open to accession by the governments of all states who are members of the International Telecommunications Union. Bulgaria meets this requirement and may become a full member of the organization, Deputy Prime Minister Konakchiev said. According to him, this entails a number of advantages for Bulgaria which has been using INTELSAT telecommunication services through earth stations in Greece, Yugoslavia, Romania and Turkey. There are plans for the construction of a similar station on Bulgarian territory soon.

[09] INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON ROLE OF TRANS-EUROPEAN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR STABILITY IN BLACK SEA REGION CONTINUES

Sofia, November 16 (BTA) - The international seminar on "The Role of Trans-European Infrastructure For Stability and Cooperation in the Black Sea Region" continues today under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

This morning the forum discussed the role of sub-regional and transborder cooperation between the countries of the region for the development of national and international infrastructure links. The main reports were delivered by Thomas Boland of the KAMPSAX company and Nigel Ash of Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners Ltd.

The discussions underscored the major role of governments. The participants agreed that governments' role varies in the different fields: from minor in telecommunications and the energy sector to essential in transport where investment is huge and the return on investment low.

"The fact that today all economies are closely linked at regional, sub-regional and international level requires cooperation among governments with a view to identifying important infrastructures," journalists were told by moderator Jose Capel Ferrer, Director of the Transport Department of the UN Economic Commission for Europe. The discussions brought to the fore the conclusion that a regional framework and sub-regional cooperation are equally essential.

An emphasis was placed on the relaxation of border formalities. This sphere has not drawn much investment while the benefits from it are tangible. Border crossings should not be subject to a separate project and must be part of the programme for trans-European network.

The work of the forum in the afternoon focused on improving cooperation between countries, international economic and financial institutions and investor states.

Summing up the discussions in the afternoon, Olivier Descamps of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) emphasized the role of the seminar for harmonizing the different infrastructure needs of different countries. The EBRD has experience in telecommunications, energy and transport, he said.

The bank is working with all eight countries in the region. The total value of its projects in the three fields is ECU 600 million. Descamps told a press conference after the meeting the bank will continue to support infrastructure projects in Bulgaria.

The participants in today's debates agreed on the need of combining financing from different financial institutions to implement any given project.

[10] BULGARIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY NEGOTIATES WITH SIEMENS

Sofia, November 16 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC) is negotiating with Siemens, BTC chief Mihail Danov told a news conference held during the international seminar on "The Role of Trans-European Infrastructure for Security and Cooperation in the Black Sea Region". Participating in the negotiations are also representatives of the Bulfon Bulgarian-Greek joint venture. The sides have specified a programme for joint activity in 1996 and outlined the major targets for cooperation until the year 2000. According to Danov, Siemens and BTC are embarking on a new stage of cooperation. "Siemens has always been, and will be, one of out strategic partners," said the BTC chief. Siemens will remain a principal supplier for the BTC. The two are currently negotiating the launch of joint production of telephone exchanges.

[11] BUSINESS PRESS

Bulgaria cannot expect good incomes from tourism unless the industry fully restructures its marketing activities, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Roumen Gechev says in an article in "Zemya". The state will consider the ways in which it can help the national advertising of the tourist industry and the state-run and private travel agencies, which bring Bulgaria some US$ 900 million annually, the article says. The State Committee of Tourism has come up with a position on the development of tourism in Bulgaria until 1998, and will submit it to the Council of Ministers, Boris Gulubov, chief of a department in the Committee says in an article in the same daily.

The Transport Ministry holds back the Ecu 12 million which the PHARE Programme extended to the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ) for the electrification of the Doupnitsa (Southwestern Bulgaria) - Koulata border checkpoint (on the Bulgarian-Greek border) line, "Standart News" says, citing BDZ Director General Angel Dimitrov. The Ministry plans to hold tenders which will stall the project, Dimitrov is quoted as saying. After 1998, BDZ will decommission the diesel engines and will no longer service the non-electrified lines, Dimitrov is quoted as saying.

A consent in principle has been reached for the re-enforcement of the Bulgarian-Russian 1989 agreement on the production in Bulgaria of parts for the new Russian transport plane Il-114, Deputy Transport Minister Stanislav Velinov told "Douma". The project has a good potential given the joint production of Il-114 planes which Russia plans to set up with Iran, Velinov said. A Bulgarian-Russian joint venture for the furnishing and painting of planes will be established, the article says.

[12] INDUSTRY HITS TEN-MONTH HIGH IN OCTOBER

Sofia, November 14 (BTA) - Non-farm public sector output hit a ten-month high in October, the Spokesman of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) Dimiter Fratev told a press conference today. It stood at 79,000 million leva, which is a nearly 1% up from September, and about 6.5% up from October 1994.

Output in the public sector totalled 675,000 million leva in the ten months to November, which is 3% up from the comparable 1994 figure, Fratev said.

Growth was industry-led, with industrial output in October reaching 64,700 million leva, up 4% from a month earlier, and nearly 8% from October 1994. Industrial output in the first ten months of this year neared 550,000 million leva, a 3.3% increase from the same time of 1994.

The chemical and oil industries accounted for 35% of industrial output in October, Fratev said. Also considerable was the share of ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, cellulose and paper industry, electrical engineering and electronics.

The food industry is still struggling, Fratev reported. It fell 1.8% from the first ten months of 1994. Light industry plunged 9% from the first ten months of last year.

Export-oriented sectors grew more rapidly than industries catering for the home market, the NSI Spokesman said. Sales of industrial goods and services abroad hit 153,000 million leva in the first ten months, which is 25% up from the same time last year.

The jobless total in October was 398,528, or 0.5% less than in September, according to the National Employment Service. The total fell below 400,000 for the first time in three years.

[13] THURSDAY NEWS BRIEFS

Sofia, November 16 (BTA) - Parliament today passed on second reading texts of a privatization funds bill and amendments to the cultural monuments and museums act and the handicapped persons act.

The Executive Committee of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) adopted a platform for negotiation in the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (of trade unions, employers and the government); the draft addresses income policy and income protection in 1996, the CITUB said today. The amalgamation calls for full compensation of wages and pensions for actual inflation in 1996. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is planning to link compensations to projected inflation.

The CITUB platform also calls for setting new base wages, pensions and social payments as of January 1, 1996, and ensuring an income growth of at least 30% for the year.

According to CITUB experts, the average wage in the state- financed sector this year is running at 80% of the poverty line, down from 110% in 1993. Pensions now stand at 60% of the subsistence minimum, down from 87% in 1993. Employers owe about 20,000 million leva in overdue wages.

A round table on "Problems to Adoption" began today at the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. The discussion is organized by a child protection association, with help from US-based Global Concern.

The Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Roumen Gechev today met with the head Samsung's Eastern European division Gon Huang.

Gon Huang presented projects for strengthening the South Korean corporation's presence in Bulgaria. He emphasized Samsung's readiness to invest in telecommunications, the pharmaceuticals industry and in the Sviloza plant in Svishtov.