By Nedyalka Aleksandrova

In the last decade Varna has developed and expanded extensively. At present it is the 80^th largest city in Europe, Bulgaria’s second-largest metropolis and the biggest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

The impetuous development of Varna raised the need of a new general city plan as to the west it has reached its maximum of territorial enlargement. The lake of Varna will have a leading role in the process, the authors of the new GCP say. It will become an element for another city enlargement as a tourist agglomeration. The principal aim is to avoid here the tendency of urbanization of the entire coast. The GCPlan safeguards the so called ‘natural breaks’. In practice, they will guarantee that apart from being a European harbour and a logistic centre, Varna will remain a holiday centre of a European scale, as it has been in the last decade. The Black Sea highway will become the axis of the economic development in the region.

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Novinite.com, August 27, 2009

Photo by BGNES

The natural conditions in Romania and Bulgaria make these countries some of the best placed in Europe for producing wind energy. Interest in investing in wind power is high in both countries, but legislative ambiguity and the limited capacity of national electricity grids are delaying the building of new wind parks.

Bulgaria could have a wind power production capacity of 3,400 MW in a few years, according to the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Unlike Romania, Bulgaria is at the moment highly dependent on energy imports, taking most of the fossil fuels it uses from Russia.

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Sofia News Agency

Madonna’s concert in Sofia attracted 60 000 fans who enjoyed the amazing atmosphere of the largest event of that kind to ever take place in Bulgaria. Photo by news.bg

US pop star Madonna rocked the Bulgarian capital Sofia Saturday night from 10 pm until 12 am in her first ever concert in Bulgaria.

Some 60 000 fans filled the Vasil Levski Stadium in downtown Sofia in what is the largest musical event of its kind to ever take place on Bulgarian soil.

The concert started shortly after 8 pm and the crowd was warmed up with various disco beats and mixes for about an hour.

Instead at 9 pm as advertised earlier, Madonna appeared on stage at about 9:55 pm. In the one hour before that the eager fans entertained themselves with more than 150 audience (so-called Mexican) waves.

Madonna’s amazing show that the 60 000 Bulgarians and foreigners saw in Sofia featured a look-alike of Michael Jackson, performing the famous moon walk. The King of Pop who died at the end of June 2009, would have celebrated Saturday, August 29, 2009, his 51st birthday.

In addition to her top hits, Madonna’s concert also included messages for religious tolerance and civic activism - something to which the Sofia audience responded with great cheers and enthusiasm.

One of the more provocative moments of the concert was when Madonna French kissed another woman - one of the dance performers on the stage.

Despite the concert’s truly exciting atmosphere the audience failed to summon Madonna for any curtain calls after the huge screens on the 85-meter long, 40-meter high stage said “Game Over”.

A total of 450 security personnel - the largest such number ever employed in Bulgaria for a single event - were in charge of keeping Madonna’s concert in Sofia in order; police were largely not visible until the very end of the show when they helped regulated the exits and the routes to the closest public transport and subway stations. No accidents have been reported during the concert.

 CHOOSE LIFE is a campaign initiated and financed by Eurolink Investment Group since 2007. Its main objective is to encourage and support young, ambitious and talented people.

Choose Life 2008 - Football Tournament Winners

Over the past few years foreign investments, capital and know-how were actively encouraged in Bulgaria. As key factors for the country’s development and the improvement of Bulgaria’s national and international status, they are solid prerequisites for our secure and better future. In attempt to do what it takes to achieve this objective, while taking all the necessary measures to deal with the present economic crisis, we often neglect the young generation, the future of Bulgaria. Our main priority should be to spend more quality time with the young generation, guide them, share knowledge and experience with them, as well as create numerous opportunities for the times to come.

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By Lili Gospodinova,

One of Bulgaria’s most gifted comedy actors Georgi Kaloyanchev made an appearance in front of a crowd of film lovers in Varna. Photo by log.bg

The ‘Love is Folly’ International Film Festival, held every year in Varna, runs this year from August 28 to September 3.

The Festival was officially opened by Culture Minister, Vezhdi Rashidov, in the Black Sea city at 19:00.

Tatyana Lolova, Georgi Kaloyanchev and Nikola Anastasov made appearances in front of a crowd of film fans. 50 films from 20 countries from three continents will be shown, all of which have themes relating to love, passion and the folly that these emotions engender.

The russian movie, ‘Admiral’ by Andrey Kravchuk had the honour of opening the festival. There is no doubt for the interest that the two movies with bulgarian participation provoked. They are ‘Prima Primavera’ starring Vesela Kazakova and Djoko Rosich and ‘St. George Shoots the Dragon’ with Stefan Danailov in one of the main roles.

Saturday will be the first time that the Festival has focused on Indian Films. One of the highlights of the Festival will be the showing of ‘East Meets Barry West’, an English-Bulgarian joint production, starring rapper Misho Shamara.

There will be two panoramas, dedicated to the Bulgarian movie heritage. One of them is in memorial of the great Bulgarian actor Petar Slabakov and the other is dedicated to the work of the script writer Georgi Mishev.

Main accent in ‘Love is folly’ will be the newest german cinema. The Bavarian program includes six movies. Among them you can see the winner of the Silver bear prize of this year’s Berlinale - ‘All the other’, directed by Maren Ade. Another accent in the program is the panorama of the movies with the russian actor Oleg Yankovski. You will be able to remind masterpieces like ‘Tsareubiytsa’, ‘Flying Asleep and Awake’, ‘My Tender’ and ‘Affectionate Beast’.

Among the guests of the festival will be the Georgian director Nana Dzhordzhadze and the American director Celik Kayalar. Their movies - ‘The Rainbowmaker’ and ‘Moonlight sonata’ are also included in the program.

The reduced flow of foreign investments is one of the main reasons for the crisis in the Bulgarian economy. The records for the first six months indicate an economic drop of 4.2% in comparison with the same period of 2008. Meanwhile, countries like Germany, one of the main foreign trade partners of Bulgaria, observe some positive signals for getting out of the recession. In addition, world well-known trade-marks, which did not have representations in our country up to now, are expected to open their shops in Bulgaria this autumn. According to the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Investment Agency, Stoyan Stalev, a foreign capital of BGN 2 billion will be invested in the Bulgarian economy.

The data for the first six months of 2009 indicate that the FDI have reached about € 1.6 billion. This is about 30% less than the reported statistics for the same period of last year. All the same, this is a satisfactory result, considering the difficult year experienced worldwide. At present, the leading spheres of activity, in which investments are being made, are the financial, the commercial, the real estate and the industrial sectors.

Stalev explains that Bulgaria has a good legal system; companies are quickly registered by foreigners in Bulgaria and they enjoy an equal treatment like the Bulgarian citizens. There are also no limitations on the capital and the profit exportation.

The Bulgarian government, all EU member-states and countries outside the community share Stalev’s idea of major investment projects to be financed by the state, however, this is possible once we enter a more favourable fiscal year.

Novinite.com, August 20, 2009

Bulgaria’s PM Borisov with Olympic Committee President, Stefka Kostadinova (right). Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria’s new government of the GERB party is considering the opportunities for giving tax breaks to companies sponsoring sports activities and investing in sports facilities.

This has become clear Thursday as Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, met with the head of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee, Stefka Kostadinova, who set the Olympic women’s high jump record in 1996.

The meeting between Borisov and Kostadinova was also attended by Sports Minister, Svilen Neykov, and Deputy Finance Minister, Vladislav Goranov. The top officials agreed to carry out a survey of the best European practices for stimulating private investors to sponsor sports events and facilities.

Novinite.com, August 20, 2009

Bulgaria’s largest Black Sea city of Varna is a more popular tourist destination than the country’s second largest Black Sea city of Burgas.

This becomes clear from data announced Thursday by the Territorial Statistical Bureau in Varna.

Even though the Varna District, which occupies most of Bulgaria’s northern Black Sea coast, has fewer hotels and accommodation spots, and fewer beds, it attracted more visitors than the Burgas District, which takes up Bulgaria’s entire southern Black Sea coast, in the second quarter of 2009.

The Varna District has a total of 403 accommodation establishments (hotels, motels, camping sites, etc) with 53 448 beds. It registered 231 000 hotel stays in April-June 2009.

This is 10,1% more visitors than the 209 800 hotel stays in the Burgas District, which has 870 accommodation spots and 85 649 beds.

Novinite.com, 17 Aug, 2009

Borisov was speaking after opening a new section of renovated road close to the Varna train station. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria PM Boyko Borisov has pledged to invest BGN 20 M in the road infrastructure in the Black Sea city of Varna.

Borisov stated that the money will be invested as soon as the Varna municipality comes up with the necessary projects, BGNES reported Saturday. He was speaking after opening a new section of renovated road close to the Varna train station.

Currently BGN 23 M has been spent on the renovated section of Devnya street in Varna, BGN 14 M of that has come out of the municipality budget.

The new investment will most likely be used to renovate sections of roads between the Varna neighborhoods and the center as well as the main central boulevards and the section of tarmac outside the Metro hypermarket.

With reference to the recent amendments made in the Bulgarian Commercial Law and the Commercial Register Law in accordance with the EU Legislation System, herewith we would like to inform you that all companies registered in Bulgaria, have to be re-registered as required by the provisions of the above quoted laws. An announcement for the compulsory company re-registration was previously published on our company’s websites:

- on April 4, 2008 - New Trade Register and Registrations of Companies in Bulgaria: all existing companies must be registered by 30.06.2008

- on May 8, 2008 - NEWS – The Commercial Register

- and on June 17, 2009 - Legal reminder - companies registered in Bulgaria

Most of our clients have already provided for the re-registration of their companies in Bulgaria.
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Novinite.com, August 11, 2009

Bulgaria’s CO2 emissions reached 52,8 M tons in 2008, making it one of the few EU countries to achieve its targets under the Kyoto Protocol.

Global carbon dioxide emissions in 2008 rose 1,94 % year-on-year to 31,5 B tons, German renewable energy industry institute IWR said on Monday, based on official information and its own research on 65 countries worldwide.

Kyoto set Bulgaria a target of an 8% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions based on 1990 statistics, when Bulgarian emission reached 75 M tons. Currently the emissions are 30% less.

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