Public Relations and Protocol

All the teams of National Railway Infrastructure Company are working in the field to remove the accidents on the railway network caused by heavy snowfall and strong wind.

The movement of trains in the country is carried out in conditions of complicated winter situation.

On the order of the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov from Friday in the National Railway Infrastructure Company an organization for action in complicated winter conditions was created, as all teams and equipment were mobilized.

The Varna ferry complex will become a key point for equipment and cargo to Ukraine in its reconstruction process. This was stated by Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov during a visit to the complex today.

We are actively working to improve transport connectivity between Bulgaria and Romania by building new bridges over the Danube, restoring ferry links and ensuring efficient shipping. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Dimitar Nedyalkov during a Bulgarian-Romanian conference "United Europe — a path to economic security and sustainable integration", held yesterday in Ruse.

I look forward to making the necessary efforts to complete by the end of the year the activities under OP Transport and Transport Infrastructure (OPTTI) 2014-2020. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Anna Natova at the opening of the third meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Transport Connectivity Programme (TCP) 2021-2027 in Plovdiv.

In planning investments under the Transport Connectivity Programme 2021-2027, a balance will be sought between North and South Bulgaria. This became clear during a meeting between the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov and Agnes Monfre, Head of Unit "Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovenia" at DG Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission. They discussed the projects set for funding under the 2021-2027 TCP.

The Director General of DG Civil Aviation Administration Anelia Marinova handed over the certificate of operational suitability of the first hospital heliport, built on the territory of UMBAL Uni Hospital in Panagyurishte. It is designed to service flights for the needs of the air emergency medical assistance system.

We already have full digitisation of document handling in our seaports and paper is about to be completely phased out. This was said in Burgas by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov during the presentation of a national system for electronic exchange of information in Bulgarian seaports. The system was developed by the State Enterprise "Port Infrastructure" under an European project.

Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Dimitar Nedyalkov participated in the 20th anniversary Vienna Economic Forum — Vienna Dialogue for the Future 2023. The theme of the forum is "Continuing to Build Economic Bridges through Difficult Times".

During the conference, opportunities for building efficient and reliable infrastructure, energy and digital networks were discussed. The economic and financial stability in Europe was discussed, as well as the challenges countries face when taking decisions related to economic cooperation.

Nearly 400,000 Bulgarians and 140 municipalities in remote areas where connectivity is not well developed will have access to high-speed internet at 1 Gbps over a fibre-optic network and will be covered by a 5G mobile network.

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport and Communications signed an agreement to implement an investment from the Recovery and Sustainability Plan. Nearly 470 million leva will be invested to build and improve connectivity in remote and rural areas of the country.

The Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov hosted a meeting to discuss policies and measures to introduce sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility.

We are working to improve cross-border links with Greece and the region, including both road and rail connectivity. This is what the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Anna Natova said during the Southeast Europe Connectivity Forum, which is taking place yesterday and today in Thessaloniki.

The Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Dimitar Nedyalkov presented the awards in the category "Transport Infrastructure Construction" during the Annual Ball organized by the Bulgarian Chamber of Builders for the Builder's Day - 26 October.

The Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov met today with BDZ and NRIC employees from all over the country. The main topics of the talks were remuneration and working conditions in both companies, as well as issues related to staff shortages.

The meeting was organized on the initiative of Minister Gvozdeykov in connection with numerous complaints and signals received from railway employees.

We are going to buy on-board devices for safe control of 89 trains, 64 of which are for BDZ. The introduction of ERTMS on trains is an important step to ensure that rail transport is safer. This was announced by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov at the opening of an international Bulgarian-Turkish business forum in the railway sector, which gathered today in Sofia more than 50 railway companies from Bulgaria and Turkey.

Since 2016, the project for the Plovdiv railway junction has been approved and coordinated several times by the Plovdiv Municipality, and now they saw a problem with its implementation. This was said by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdejkov during an inspection of the construction activities around Plovdiv Central Station.

The Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov and the Minister of Tourism Zaritza Dinkova met with the Director of Civil Aviation for Europe and Asia of the Boeing Corporation Mario Ebsim and representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce. The main topic of the talks was the development of the aviation industry and tourism in Bulgaria.

The advantage of the fact that in Bulgaria the emergency medical assistance by air is being built now is that we will purchase helicopters of the latest generation and we will have access to top-class avionics. This was stated by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeikov during a visit to the base of Leonardo S.p.A in the Italian town of Vergate, where the first of six helicopters for emergency medical assistance is currently being built.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maria Gabriel and Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeikov informed that the government Airbus plane is flying to Tel Aviv and will return to Sofia this evening with Bulgarian citizens on board.

The previously scheduled charter flight of a private company for 13 October was not carried out due to an objective impossibility to obtain the necessary permits for the flight.

With the establishment of transport connectivity with Serbia, we can now say that Asia is one step closer to Europe. This was said by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov during a joint inspection with the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Andrey Tsekov of the newly built section from Dragoman to Kalotina of the motorway "Europe".

Two grant schemes for investments in green transport worth more than 126 million BGN will be opened for business in 2024. This was announced by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov at the opening of the Logistics Business Conference "Smart, green and sustainable transport and logistics", organized by the Bulgarian Transport Press.