Bulgarian Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov said in an exclusive BTA interview that next year his Ministry will launch ten calls for proposals under Operational Programme Competitiveness to an aggregate value of 405,071,431 euro.

So far, 39 per cent of the Programme resources have been contracted and 19 per cent have been paid out. This ranks Competitiveness as one of the fastest progressing programmes in terms of payments, with a 275-fold increase over the last year, Traikov said.

The implementation of the plan to reduce the administrative burden by 20 per cent until the end of 2012 will save the business community 26 million leva in fees and time, the

Minister noted. "We are revewing a further 20 statutory instruments, from which we expect to cut companies' expenses by at least another 15 per cent. I want everybody to be clear that we are an ally of and not a barrier to business," Traikov insisted.

"We tried very hard to cope with the most difficult stage of the crisis," he said. "We are clear that it is the people who bear the brunt, but I believe that our conservative approach to expenditures is justified." The Privatization and Post-privatization Control Agency is expected to select a sale method for Bulgartabac in January 2011. The choice will depend on the marketing research and the discussions with potential investors. "We can say at this point that this transaction attracts substantial interest,"

Traikov specified. The Agency has the resources to meet the 450 million leva national budget target for its operating revenue.

"I also expect a larger growth of foreign investments, because Bulgaria stands stable against the background of the situation in Southeastern Europe and this is acknowledged by analysts and rating agencies.

The Operational Programme's allocation for enterprises' research and development, setting up technological parks, pursuit of applied research at the Bulgarian sceintific organizations and creation of an innovation network totals 90,000,000 euro. Another 49,233,651 euro are earmarked for institutional beneficiaries, to strengthen the international market positions of the Bulgarian economy.

Bulgaria expects an invitation from Russia for a session of the Intergovernmental Bulgarian-Russian Commission this coming spring, Traikov also said.

"Bulgaria and Russia should reach new agreements on Russian natural gas by the middle of 2011. My aspiration is to achieve lower prices of the blue fuel for Bulgaria," he added.

"We gave ourselves four months to reach agreement on important issues concerning the Belene N-Plant project," the Minister said. He is adamant that he will not let Bulgaria become anybody's hostage and that a solution benefiting the country will be sought. "For the time being, the Belene project has not been delayed through the fault of the Bulgarian side. On the contrary, it is Atomstroyexport that are not observing the timeframe for licensing of the technical design," he argued.

Building the electric power infrastructure will be prioritized next year since it has been "underestimated" in terms of investment, Traikov said.

He hopes that the unemployment rate in 2011 will be reduced by at least 1 percentage point.