Public Relations and Protocol

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.

The situation in Israel is extremely complicated and it is very difficult to get permission from the Israeli authorities to fly. This was said by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov, who led the organization of the flight to evacuate the Bulgarian citizens from the State of Israel, upon their arrival at Sofia Airport.

Bulgaria and Iran attach great importance to the implementation of transit transport corridors, which will help develop connectivity between the two countries and accelerate the transport of goods. This was confirmed at a meeting today by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H. E. Ali Reza Irvash. They stressed the importance of transport for cooperation between the countries.

Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Anna Natova opened the Economic Committee of the European Association of Airports - ACI EUROPE. Bulgaria hosts the 46th meeting of the Committee, which is held for the first time in Bulgaria. The organizer of the event is Sofia Airport operator SOF Connect.

The budget of OP "Transport and Transport Infrastructure" is BGN 4 billion and a little over BGN 1 billion of it should be absorbed in the remaining three months until the end of the year. This is what the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov said at an event on the operational programme, which took place in Sofia. The Minister stressed that this is a huge resource, but with a good mobilization of the Ministry and the beneficiaries the program will be successfully completed.

The development of maritime transport has a key role to play in improving Bulgaria's connectivity with Asia. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Dimitar Nedyalkov during the 6th International Transport and Logistics Business Forum "New Silk Way" in Astana, Kazakhstan. He pointed out that efforts are being made to improve and modernize the transport links of the Bulgarian sea ports with the interior of the country.

Ensuring fast and efficient connectivity between Asia and Europe through Bulgarian ports is among the government's priorities. This was said by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov during a meeting with the Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan H. E. Viktor Temirbayev. They discussed the opportunities for attracting transit cargo traffic between Asia and Europe and developing the potential of the Black Sea region, which is key to the Trans-Caspian transport route (Middle Corridor).