Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The cooperation between Bulgaria and Germany in the field of e-government and infrastructure was discussed during the ninth session of the Bulgarian-German Cooperation Council, which took place today in Berlin.

The Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications was represented by Deputy Prime Minister Valery Borissov, in his capacity as co-chairman of the Bulgarian part of the "e-Governance" working group and Deputy Minister Anton Ginev - co-chair of the "Infrastructure" working group. The member of the Bundestag and of the CDU / CSU fraction Dr. Hans-Peter Uhl also participated in the talks on "e-government".

During the discussions they exchanged information on the priorities and perspectives of cooperation between Bulgaria and Germany.

Within the “e-Governance” working group the participants discussed the current legislation in the sector and the introduction of new EU regulations in the field. Among the topics discussed were the development and maintenance of data centers, and issues on e-identification and its deployment in identity documents. The Bulgarian and the German sides unanimously supported the idea that local and central governments must come together for the benefit of citizens and businesses in the provision of electronic services.

Deputy Minister Valery Borissov presented the German partners with the organizational structure of e-government in Bulgaria and functions of the eGovernment Council to the Council of Ministers. Participants from Germany presented their long-term experience in the field of personal documents and their reliable protection.

Given the horizontal nature of e-governance, both sides confirmed the importance of the participation of representatives from other sectors of the economy in this working group.

The next meeting of the “e-Governance” working group will be held by the end of 2015.

Within the "Infrastructure" working group Deputy Minister Anton Ginev informed the German side of the government's priorities for the development of transport infrastructure. An update on major projects implemented with European funds, as well as transport facilities in preparation for concession was given. There was a discussion on the preparation and adoption of the Rehabilitation plan of "Holding BDZ" EAD.

The German side expressed its desire for the development of relations between the two countries, both at institutional level and business level. Some specific interest from the representatives of the German business was shown in the development of urban transport, the modernization of the port terminals, and waste containers equipment of municipalities.

The two sides agreed to establish a working group on road infrastructure to cooperate in the preparation of procurement procedures and the Bulgarian side to provide contacts of municipalities that implement projects for integrated urban transport.