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News from Bulgaria / 96-06-21Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Embassy of Bulgaria <bulgaria@access1.digex.net>EMBASSY OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY21 June, 1996CONTENTS
[01] PRESIDENT ZHELEV ADDRESSES N.A.T.O. WORKSHOP IN WARSAWWarsaw, June 20 (BTA) - Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev delivered a lecture at the 13th NATO Workshop on European Security which opened in Warsaw today. "The Republic of Bulgaria has adopted as a top priority of its foreign policy full integration into the European and Euro-Atlantic structures," Dr Zhelev said. He said Bulgaria is happy with the observation of Allied Forces Southern Europe that this country is the most active participant in the Partnership for Peace functions. Bulgaria conducts an intensified dialogue concerning its accession to NATO, the Bulgarian head of state said. "I am an optimist, and I think that in the year 2000 and after Europe should see an enlarged NATO with the Republic of Bulgaria naturally among the new members," he said. What matters to Bulgaria is the political motivation of NATO's enlargement, Dr Zhelev said. In his view, this implies immediate support for the democratic institutions and standards of political life, he added. The principles and criteria for enlargement of the North Atlantic Alliance in essence are the same as these of the European Union, Dr Zhelev stated. He recalled that last year Bulgaria formally handed its application for full EU membership. President Zhelev stressed the importance of the military and strategic motives for the process of NATO enlargement. "We do not want the Republic of Bulgaria to be the cause of drawing any new dividing lines of security or to become a peninsula or an island outside whatever part of the new European security architecture," he said, specifying that Bulgaria borders on pact members Turkey and Greece and its other neighbours Romania and Macedonia have already declared their readiness for accession. NATO's enlargement will come as a most firm confirmation of the East European democracies' right to a free choice in security matters, according to Dr Zhelev. The decisions on joining NATO should be made by both the Alliance and the acceding country. No country outside NATO should be allowed to deter or block this process, he added. The President noted that Bulgaria will be contributing to regional security by promoting the inter-Balkan dialogue and understanding and by sharing in the post-war reconstruction of the region and the implementation of infrastructure projects.[02] TURKEY WILL ATTEND BALKAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETING IN SOFIAIstanbul, June 20 (BTA) - Today Foreign Minister Emre Gonensay assured Bulgarian Parliament Chairman Blagovest Sendov that Turkey would attend the meeting of Balkan foreign ministers in Sofia at the beginning of July, organized on the initiative of Prime Minister Zhan Videnov. "We will meet in Sofia," Mr Gonensay said. He confirmed his country's intention to take part in the meeting at today's brief talks with a Bulgarian parliamentary delegation in Ankara; the delegation arrived on an official visit to Turkey on June 18, an official of the Bulgarian Parliament press centre reported from Istanbul.Arriving in Istanbul later today, the Bulgarian parliamentarians visited the Bulgarian Exarchate and had a meeting with its Board of Churchwardens. Stefan Kovachev, Chairman of the Board, announced that President Suleyman Demirel had accepted an invitation to meet representatives of the Bulgarian community in Istanbul and the Board of Churchwardens scheduled for tomorrow. [03] BULGARIA, CYPRUS SIGN PROTOCOL FOR TRADE AND ECONOMIC COOPERATIONSofia, June 20 (BTA) - A protocol for trade and economic cooperation between Bulgaria and Cyprus was signed today between Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Doncho Konaktchiev and the Minister of Finance of Cyprus Khristodoulos Khristodoulou. The signing of the protocol marked the closing of the tenth session of the mixed Bulgarian-Cypriot commission for economic, trade and technical cooperation."We arrived at a common decision to promote trade and economic relations between the two countries in spheres, which have not been traditional so far," Mr Khristodoulou said on behalf of the commission's two co-chairmen before the signing ceremony. In addition to light industry and tourism, cooperation will develop in machine building, technologies and electronics, on the basis of Bulgaria's greater experience," Mr Khristodoulou said. The idea for the establishment of a Bulgarian-Cypriot bank for development was discussed during the session. According to Mr Konaktchiev, the bank should offer assistance in financing projects for Bulgaria and Cyprus through foreign investments and credits. According to an expert from the commission, this will not be an ordinary commercial bank, but a bank intended to support Bulgarian enterprises. The following idea, discussed for two days, was formulated by the commission's two co-chairmen Konaktchiev and Khristodoulou: that Cyprus will be used by Bulgaria in its relations with the states of the Middle East and Northern Africa, and Bulgaria will be used as a bridge linking Cyprus with the Balkan states and Eastern Europe. [04] BULGARIA, YUGOSLAVIA HOLD SECURITY TALKSBelgrade, June 20 (BTA correspondent) - First contacts between the Research Centre on National Security with the Bulgarian Defence Ministry and the Centre of Military Schools of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were established during the several day's visit to Belgrade of a working group of the Bulgarian centre led by its Director Prof. Dr. Nansen Behar. The visit is in the framework of the cooperation accords signed between the defence ministries and general staffs of the two states.Bulgaria has established similar scientific exchange with Greece and Romania and contacts with Turkey, Albania and Macedonia, "With the Director of the Centre of Military Schools in FR Yugoslavia and other colleagues we had talks on the regional security and discussed the prospects for cooperation. It is possible to exchange information and come up with joint publications," Prof. Dr Nansen Behar told BTA at the end of his visit. The Bulgarian scientists were also received at the newly-established non-governmental Centre of Geopolitical Studies in Belgrade. [05] COUNCIL OF MINISTERS' DECISIONS (BY BTA)The Council of Ministers approved a national programme for Bulgaria's participation in 1996 Council of Europe's initiatives. The programme was drafted last year. The funds for its implementation have been allocated from the Foreign Ministry's budgetary account. The national programme is in three main directions:1. Political cooperation on common issues envisaging participation in meetings of the Committee of Foreign Ministers; the country's participation in discussions on human rights, social and economic issues, education, culture, environment protection etc.; 2. Bulgaria's joining the Partial Agreement for the European Commission for Democracy Through Law and the Partial Agreement of the European Fund of the Council of Europe for the Support of Co- production, Distribution and Exhibition of European Feature Films and Documentaries (EURIMAGES); 3. Bulgaria's joining the Partial Agreement of the Social Development Fund. ... The ministers discussed today a draft decree for the carring out the programme for financial rehabilitation of commercial partnerships. "The enterprizes subject to financial rehabilitation are to be divided into two groups: those which provide key infrastructure services (like the Bulgarian State Railways, energy and city transport companies) and cannot be liquidated under any conditions and enterprizes which should operate in competitive market conditions and whose best financial rehabilitation may turn out to be their liquidation," Finance Minister Dimiter Kostov told reporters today. [06] SOCIALIST PARTY NEEDS PRESIDENCY TO ENSURE POLICY OF NATIONAL SALVATION, ZHAN VIDENOV SAYSSofia, June 20 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) needs the presidential power to ensure a policy that will save the country, Chairman of the BSP's Supreme Council and Prime Minister Zhan Videnov told the party's activists in the Sofia city. Videnov voiced satisfaction with the nomination at the Sunday BSP plenum of the best presidential candidate and the one who stands highest chances of winning - current Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski.Zhan Videnov announced the moves which the Socialist Party has planned to take to win the elections, that the Democratic Left will try to hold public discussions on all problems in the country. The Government and the parliamentary majority intend to take such measures as to make possible the just distribution of the economic burdens among the social groups. The parties of the left coalition are ready to settle the problems in agriculture, the BSP leader said. He said that the Minister of Agriculture will announce his programme next week. Videnov said that in the context of the upcoming presidential elections the Party intends to change its relations with the media, to hold dialogue with the intelligentsia and to give clear signs that the private business may rely on the Left. According to him, the international factor in both political and economic terms, may be "harnessed" in the election campaign. The economic factor will become decisive in the relations between states, he said and emphasized that the Government will take efforts to get the country integrated in promising economic cooperation processes in the region, Europe and in the world. [07] OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PETER STOYANOV VISITS BONNBonn, June 20 (BTA exclusive by Simeon Vassilev) - The opposition's presidential candidate Peter Stoyanov, Deputy Chairman of the Union of Democratic Forces, who is visiting Germany at the invitation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, today conferred, separately and in this order, with Dr Rita Suessmuth, President of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Schaeuble, Floor Leader of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union, and Berndt Schmidtbauer, Minister of State at the Federal Chancellery. According to Mr Stoyanov, Germany, as long-standing trading partner of Bulgaria, has a very clear look on the economic situation in this country. The politicians he met were worried that the socio-economic situation in Bulgaria is having a negative impact on the small German companies which have contacts with Bulgaria. Specifically, they mentioned the delayed payments and bank failures. Mr Stoyanov said, "I feel not just as representative of the Bulgarian opposition but also as a Bulgarian politician who cannot afford to stress the bleak economic situation in his country outside its borders." With Dr Suessmuth and Mr Schaeuble, Mr Stoyanov raised the question of Bulgaria's inclusion in the 101-country visa blacklist. In a sense, Bulgaria is counting on Germany for its faster integration into the European structures and into NATO, Mr Stoyanov told the German leaders. Later in the day, he also met with the Minister of State at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs Werner Heuri and with representatives of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce.[08] STATISTICS SHOW WORSE BUSINESS CLIMATE IN MAYSofia, June 20 (BTA) - The National Statistical Institute (NSI) found that the overall economic situation in Bulgaria deteriorated in May, Teofana Genova, Head of the NSI Business Climate and Business Statistics Department, told a news conference today. Last month the public and private sector of the economy (excluding agriculture) produced output worth 126,000 million leva. At comparable prices, the monthly and five-month level of production was unchanged from last year, Mrs Genova said. The private sector contributed 28 per cent of total production in May. Its output grew compared tothe same month of 1995 by over 17 per cent. In the public sector, production dropped from 1995 by 5 per cent in May. Private industrialists bettered their January-May 1995 production performance by more than 30 per cent this year. Still, this was not enough to make up for the lag of the public sector.[09] HIGH INFLATION LIKELY IN JUNESofia, June 20 (BTA) - June inflation may be higher than the May figure, 12.5 per cent, Prof. Kiril Gatev, Deputy Chairman of the National Statistical Institute (NSI), told a news conference today. The economic situation is highly unpredictable and the NSI cannot commit itself to a forecast about inflation in June and the second half of 1996, Prof. Gatev said. The fluctuation of the lev-dollar exchange rate, the central bank's actions in the market, the foreign exchange reserves and the loans Bulgaria will receive once it signs agreements with the IMF and the World Bank must all be factored in, which makes it very difficult to forecast annual inflation, Prof. Gatev said. Inflation in July may again be a two-digit number, in August it will level off and then will drop to one-digit numbers, Prof. Gatev said. He dismissed press reports that there is partial hyperinflation in Bulgaria as absurd.[10] BUSINESS PRESSSofia, June 20 (BTA) - The dailies report that Bulgaria's negotiations with the World Bank were postponed until September. It will wait to see if the reform in Bulgaria is successful before extending the first tranche. SAL II, US$ 120-150 million in support of Bulgaria's structural reform, will become available in September on condition that restructuring and stabilization measures produce positive results until then, said World Bank Resident Representative to Sofia Alberto Musalem.The liquidation of companies and banks should be coupled with a dramatic increase in taxes, tariffs and excise duties and a rise in electricity prices to 3.5 cents/kWh by the year's end, "Standart News" says, listing the requirements of the World Bank and the IMF. The loan conditions should be met by the beginning of July. The reforms will have a decisive influence on the IMF whose Board is meeting in Washington on July 12. The future agreement hinges on whether the government meets the IMF conditions. A 450-million-dollar loan is expected under the future agreement with the IMF. "The foreign exchange reserves are not falling. They stand at nearly 670 million dollars," National Bank Governor Lyubomir Filipov said in an interview in "Novinar". Bulgaria can make all forthcoming debt service payments but it cannot keep the reserves at this level, according to him. "We rely on the IMF, as well as on the World Bank and the European Union," Filipov said. [11] WHEAT PRODUCTION EXPECTED TO MARK A 20-YEAR LOW IN 1996Sofia, June 20 (BTA) - This year will probably see a record low yield of wheat of 2,200 kg/ha, Hristo Kurzhin, Chairman of the Agricultural Academy, told journalists today. The total amount of wheat produced in the country will not exceed 1,600,000 tons and it would just meet the demands of the population, Kurzhin added. Some 500,000 tons are needed for sowing. "The Government should think about importing wheat," he stated. Kurzhin recalled that 4,550 kg/ha were produced in 1990 and this year's production will be the lowest in the past 20 years. He put the purchase price of wheat at estimated 18 leva/kg. The harvest in Southern Bulgaria will probably begin within a week and in Northern Bulgaria within 20 days, Agricultural Academy experts say.The delay of sowing and the adverse whether conditions are the major reasons for the low production of wheat, Hristo Kurzhin stated. "There are some 800,000 ha of derelict land which the Government should reclaim already now and prepare it for the next sowing so as not to encounter the same problem next year," he said. In the past few months there was a shortage of grain in Bulgaria. In a number of population centres bread in the bakeries was sold out in the morning and bread prices went up. Private bakers closed their shops. To meet the population's demands the Government unblocked the contingency reserves and imported grain from Serbia and India. [12] SUCCESS OF BULGARIA-WORLD BANK NEGOTIATIONSWashington, June 20 (BTA) - Today Bulgaria completed successfully negotiations on a 24.3 million US dollars loan at the headquarters of the World Bank in Washington. The loan, floated to the Bulgarian Government and the National Insurance Institute, is designed for funding social insurance reforms, the Bulgarian Embassy said from Washington.Meeting Kenneth G. Lay, Director of Southeastern Europe department, Nikolai Nikolov, CEO of the National Insurance Institute and head of the Bulgarian delegation, expressed his satisfaction with the successful conclusion of negotiations and stressed the financial support is very timely, it comes just at the beginning of social insurance reforms. In his view, this will help the National Insurance Institute overcome the difficulties caused by the crisis in Bulgaria's economy and banking. The injected funds will make it possible to improve pension schemes and ensure financial control on the revenue and expenditure of the Social Insurance Fund. The loan arrangements are expected to become effective at the beginning of 1997. Bulgarian Telegraph Agency Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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