News from Bulgaria / Dec 12, 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] FOREIGN MINISTER PIRINSKI'S VISIT TO LONDON

The Bank of England is ready to consider applications from Bulgarian banks for issuing the respective licences, Pirinski quoted Howard Davies as saying. The bank is also willing to train employees of the National Bank of Bulgaria. "The talks inspired me with hope as to the further progress of the visit," Minister Pirinski said.

The official visit by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Pirinski to Britain started today. Apart from his talks with his British counterpart Michael Rifkind, Pirinski will also meet with Defence Secretary Michael Portillo, Conservative Party floor leader Sir Widlum, with one of the ministers of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with the shadow deputy foreign secretary Ms Queen and with bankers. Pirinski will read a lecture at the Royal Institute of International Affairs and address the Confederation of British Industry.

In Britain Pirinski is expected to sign an agreement on reciprocal investment protection and promotion.

[02] GOVERNMENT SPECIFIES UNITS TO BE PRIVATIZED WITH PRIORITY

Sofia, December 11 (BTA) - At an irregular meeting today the Bulgarian Government approved a list of about 70 enterprises which it will assist in being privatized with priority. The list is indicative which means that the efforts will be directed towards the denationalization of these companies, however this is not to be done at all costs in 1996, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Roumen Gechev told reporters at the Government's Press Office.

The earmarked 70 enterprises represent part of a total of 467 companies on the Government's 1996 cash privatization programme, Minister Gechev said. They are expected to bring some 17,000 million leva in proceeds while the aggregate proceeds from cash privatization next year are expected at some 21,000 million leva. The Executive Director of the Privatization Agency Veselin Blagoev specified that these 70 enterprises are well ahead in their preparations for privatization and that the list is an open one.

On the list are 7 machine building companies, 6 electrical engineering firms, two from the lumbering industry, two dress making factories, 20 agricultural, three tobacco companies etc. The finalized version of the list will be made public tomorrow. The Government voted against the inclusion of two flour mills in the list, Deputy Prime Minister Gechev said. The deals concerned by the Concessions Act were also excluded from the list until the fate of this legislation is finally decided by the Constitutional Court, Mr Gechev said. By the end of this year the deals will be considered at a special meeting of the Government which will be attended personally by Prime Minister Videnov.

Roumen Gechev described the adoption of the list today as improvement of the mechanisms of cash privatization and of the coordination between the Government and its bodies carrying out the privatization as the Privatization Agency and the Centre for Mass Privatization.

[03] COUNCIL OF MINISTERS DECISIONS

Sofia, December 11 (BTA) - Today the Cabinet approved the position of the Bulgarian delegation which will visit Turkey to hold negotiations on bilateral trade with textile goods. The negotiations are prompted by the forthcoming approximation between Turkish and EU customs policy, inclusive in respect with third countries, Government Spokesman Nikola Baltov said.

The Government approved the text of a Balkan Military Medicine Committee memorandum on understanding. The memorandum will be signed by Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Turkey in Bucharest by the year's end.

Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Milcho Dimitrov was authorized to take part in the conclusive negotiations and sign a Bulgarian-Greek agreement on season workers on behalf of the Bulgarian Government.

The Council of Ministers adopted amendments to the Implementing Regulations of State Council Decree No 56 of 1989 on Business Activity. The amendments regulate the terms and procedure for receiving tax reliefs in compliance with the amendments to the decree and other act amendments passed by Parliament.

[04] BULGARIA-FRY: TRADE AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Sofia, December 11 (BTA) - A session of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation between Bulgaria and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) began in Belgrade today. A Bulgarian government delegation, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Foreign Economic Cooperation Kiril Tsochev, is visiting there as of yesterday. This is the first high-level visit of Bulgarian officials in Belgrade following the lifting of the Yugoembargo. It renews normal economic and trade relations between Bulgaria and Serbia which were interrupted in the past few years. The previous session of the Intergovernmental Commission was held in November 1990. "The purpose of the visit is to normalize economic ties between Bulgaria and Serbia after the removal of the embargo," Deputy Minister of Trade Stefan Staikov said in an interview over the national radio. The two delegations will exchange information on the condition of the two countries' economies and the expected changes after the official lifting of the sanctions. The prospects for fast restoration and promotion of trade and economic relations and Bulgaria's inclusion in the post-war reconstruction of former Yugoslavia will be discussed.

The two sides plan to start drafting legal framework necessary to strengthen bilateral trade and economic interaction. An intergovernmental agreement on trade and economic cooperation and agreement in the field of air transport are expected to be signed. Two more agreements: on stimulation and mutual protection of investments and on avoidance of double taxation are being drafted. They will probably be signed in the beginning of 1996, according to Deputy Minister Staikov.

He said that the two sides will give priority to the renewal of cooperation in the sphere of industrial production. Special attention will be paid to petro-chemical, chemical industry, ferrous and non- ferrous metallurgy, agricultural-machinery industry and electronics - fields which have seen direct cooperation on company level in the past, Staikov stated.

"Interaction in transport will also figure on the agenda, given that it will be considered within the framework of the new initiatives on infrastructure projects," the Deputy Minister of Trade said.

Already in late November the Bulgarian government adopted legal instruments, cancelling government decrees which had imposed bans, restrictions and special measures on trade and economic relations between Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavian countries. The ban on arms, ammunition and military equipment deliveries is the only one to remain into force.

[05] BULGARIA, ROMANIA SIGN AGREEMENT

Sofia, December 11 (BTA) - An agreement for cooperation on posts and telecommunications was signed today between the Chairman of the Posts and Telecommunications Committee Lyubomir Kolarov and Romania's Minister of Communications Adrian Turicu.

"We agreed on the construction of optical cable lines between Bucharest and Sofia, which would enable Romania to use the transit traffic across Bulgaria and Bulgaria to have fast and quality link with the countries to the North and North-West, Mr Kolarov told BTA. "Romania is allocating funds from its budget for the construction of these lines," Mr Kolarov said and recalled that the Bulgarian party will not get subsidies but will invest its own capital or attract foreign investments.

Romania wants to join the link between Sofia, Petrich, Thessaloniki and Athens as well as the communication trunkroad Istanbul, Svilengrad, Haskovo, Plovdiv, Sofia, Kyustendil, Skopje, Durras, Bari. For its part Romania will include Bulgaria in the trunkroads to Chishinau, Kiev, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Mr Kolarov said. According to him, the North-South line (Rousse-Veliko Turnovo, Haskovo, Kavala) will be constructed jointly by the two states and the positioning of the digital cable across the Danube river will be accelerated in 1996.

Mr Kolarov and Mr Turicu also agreed to cooperate in the most efficient usage of the radio and television frequencies, in the introduction of new services and synchronisation of certain price rates.

The Romanian Communications Minister also conferred today with Deputy Prime Minister Doncho Konaktchiev.

[06] BUSINESS PRESS

Sofia, December 11 (BTA) - Three Bulgarian banks are in the same dire financial straits as AgroBusinessBank, said former finance minister and incumbent chief of Central Cooperative Bank, Stoyan Alexandrov quoted by "Standart News". The central bank last week bought AgroBusinessBank for 1 lev. Alexandrov, however, would not name the three banks in question.

"Pari" quotes Deputy Minister of Economic Development Dimiter Dimitrov as saying the central bank and the Association of Commercial Banks have no serious objections to the banks rehabilitation programme. Dimitrov is also chief of the Bank Consolidation Company (BCC).

The BCC programme for rehabilitation of banking will be on today's agenda of the central banks' Governing Board.

A Bulgarian-Ukrainian bank will be set up by Christmas, "Standart News" writes quoting Alexander Demora of the Sofia-based Ukrainian Embassy.

The banks will be set up to facilitate settlements between the two countries and invest in joint ventures. Shareholders in the bank will be several major Bulgarian and Ukrainian companies, agricultural firms and the Port of Ilichovsk.

Time deposits of members of the public have remained nearly unchanged from their September levels, "Demokratsiya" writes citing central bank data.

The Stara Zagora, Southern Bulgaria, producer of disc memory storage devices urgently needs USD 6.5 million for which it has received guarantees from Bulbank, "Continent" says. The money will go for development of an overseas affiliate of this company.

The debt incurred by state-owned companies for wage payment totals over 20,000 million leva, writes "Troud". A commission of experts of the Ministries of Finance and Industry, the Privatization Agency and labour organization will seek ways for settling the debt.