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News from Bulgaria / Nov 7, 95From: bulgaria@access1.digex.net (Embassy of Bulgaria)Bulgarian Telegraph Agency DirectoryEMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA - WASHINGTON D.C.BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCYCONTENTS[01] PRESIDENT ZHELEV AND DELEGATION DEPART FOR ISRAEL[02] BULGARIAN P.M. VIDENOV EXPRESSES CONDOLENCES[03] GOVERNMENT STARTS DISCUSSIONS ON 1996 BUDGET BILL[04] JAPAN REITERATES SUPPORT FOR REFORM IN BULGARIA[05] PRESIDENT ZHELEV SEES ATTEMPTS AT CENSORSHIP[06] MONDAY NEWS BRIEFS[01] PRESIDENT ZHELEV AND DELEGATION DEPART FOR ISRAEL"The short visit of the Bulgarian state delegation to Israel is meant to express the support of our state institutions for the Middle East peace process which should continue at all costs," President Zhelyu Zhelev said before leaving for the funeral of the slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. On the Bulgarian state delegation are Deputy Prime Minister Svetoslav Shivarov, ministers and representatives of the Jewish organisation in Bulgaria "Shalom". "We are going to express the sympathy of the Bulgarian people to the people of Israel in their grief," the Bulgarian President also said before his departure. About 2,000 senior state officials from different countries will pay today their last respects to the late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Swaziland's Deputy Prime Minister and the accompanying persons, who missed their regular flight, flew for the mourning ceremony in Israel on the same plane with the Bulgarian delegation.
[02] BULGARIAN P.M. VIDENOV EXPRESSES CONDOLENCESBulgarian Prime Minister Zhan Videnov today visited the Israeli Embassy in Sofia to offer his condolences on the tragic death of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the cabinet's press office said this afternoon. A message signed by the Bulgarian Prime Minister reads, "On behalf of the Bulgarian government and myself I express my deepest condolences to the government and people of Israel on the tragic death of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. I also offer my most sincere condolences to the wife and relatives of Yitzhak Rabin. "I hope that the wise, constructive and consistent policy for peace in the Middle East, pursued by Yitzhak Rabin will be brought to success and no terrorist acts would stand in the way of the Middle East peace process," the message says.
[03] GOVERNMENT STARTS DISCUSSIONS ON 1996 BUDGET BILLAt an extraordinary sitting today the Government started discussions on the 1996 draft budget. This was the first time members of the Cabinet discussed the state financial plan for 1996. According to the Government press office, work on the bill will be completed within the next two weeks and it will be moved in Parliament by the end of November. Today's sitting was closed and no official statement was made on the discussions. With few exceptions, all cabinet members declined to comment on the parameters of the budget, arguing that the discussions were still in their initial stage. Health Care Minister Mimi Vitkova will demand 5% of the GDP for health care. She described the present state of health care as miserable. Justice Minister Mladen Chervenyakov said he would demand the same percentage of the GDP for the judiciary as last year - around 4.6% of the GDP. According to him, the bill provides for one and a half times greater revenues from the judiciary than the ministry itself believes possible. Industry Minister Kliment Vouchev had no objections to the proposed macroframework. According to him, industry will provide 65-70% of the budget revenues. Deputy Prime Minister Kiril Tsochev was optimistic about the timely completion of the budget bill. He declined to comment on the macroeconomic parameters but repeated the three factors on which the revenues side depends: the dollar/lev exchange rate, liquid fuel prices and electricity prices.
[04] JAPAN REITERATES SUPPORT FOR REFORM IN BULGARIATokyo - Japan reiterated its support for key spheres of the reform in Bulgaria at the start of a five-day visit here by a Bulgarian economic delegation. The 30-member delegation is led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Roumen Gechev and includes central bank Governor Prof. Todor Vulchev, parliamentary Economic Committee chief Atanas Paparizov, Foreign Investments Agency chief Daniela Bobeva, Privatization Agency Executive Director Vesselin Blagoev, deputy cabinet ministers, experts in power production and industry, and businessmen. The Bulgarian- Japanese meetings during the coming five days are expected to confirm what has been achieved as a result of active bilateral contacts on political, economic and company level. The sides are expected to sign agreements, including ones on investments and on privatization deals. A meeting of the Bulgarian delegation with influential Japanese MPs and the Speaker of the Upper House of the Diet, Djuro Saito, assessed the results of the new economic policy Bulgaria pursues and the encouraging trends of financial stabilization and economic growth. Japan has serious interests in the so called "triangular operations" for participating together with Bulgaria in the process of reconstruction of regions hit by the Yugoconflict. Japan appreciates highly Sofia's constructive role in the volatile Balkans. The Japanese plans for extensive business contacts, including joint projects, investments and participation in Bulgarian privatization, were in the focus of a prolonged meeting the Bulgarian delegation had at the Tokyo office of the world-famous Marubeni corporation with Marubeni managers including President Kazus Haruna who also chairs the mixed Bulgarian-Japanese economic commission. The sides discussed projects for upgrading Bulgaria's heavy industry, for construction of oil and gas pipe lines via Bulgaria and projects in the chemical industry, among other things. The Tokyo agenda of the Bulgarian delegation continues tomorrow with meetings with Japanese institutions involved in the targeting of Japanese investment now flowing mostly to Asia, and in the economic cooperation of this country with partners across the world.
[05] PRESIDENT ZHELEV SEES ATTEMPTS AT CENSORSHIP"I stand firmly in favour of the freedom of speech even in cases when it is abused, and my views on this matter are well known. Without freedom of speech there is no democracy, and all other civil liberties are questioned," Bulgarian President Zhelyu Zhelev said before his departure for Israel today. Dr. Zhelev's statement was prompted by a a journalist's question referring to a letter the Editor-in-Chief of the trade union "Troud" daily, Tosho Toshev has addressed to the President. In the letter published in "Troud" on November 2 Tosho Toshev says that Prime Minister Zhan Videnov issued serious threats against this daily at a meeting with Sofia activists of the ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party. Videnov reportedly accused "Troud" of serving as mouthpiece of the Socialists' political opponents. "We see such behavior of a prime minister as an alarming attempt at encroaching on the right to freedom of speech guaranteed by the law," Toshev wrote in his letter. The addressee further asked the President for assistance by approaching the Constitutional Court for violation of the Constitution. Dr. Zhelev said today he is not yet familiar with the letter and said he would study it carefully and then be ready to make comments. "I am alarmed by the attempts at imposing censorship, observable recently," the President also said. He went on to site as an example to that effect his statement on the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin that the National Television aired last night abridged. This, according to the President is part of the policy of censorship certain circles are trying to impose at the national media. Dr. Zhelev believes this issue should be brought to the attention of the competent institutions as this is already "a case of violation of the Constitution". Asked whether he is planning to approach the Constitutional Court on this matter, Dr. Zhelev said, "We will see."
[06] MONDAY NEWS BRIEFSA medical military delegation of the U.S. Command Europe arrived here today. The U.S. delegation will hold talks with Bulgarian medical command on a joint medical military exercise scheduled for March, 1996. The U.S. guests will visit the site of the exercise and the military hospital in Plovdiv (Southern Bulgaria), the Defence Ministry's press office said.Under the programme for military contacts with the U.S. Army Europe Command, a delegation of U.S. military lawyers arrived on a two-day visit here today. The U.S. guests will deliver lectures on American military law, the status of armed forces board, and the servicemen's rights and obligations, the Defence Ministry's press office said. A German delegation headed by Major-General Kristian Ewert, Chief of the Medical Academy of the Bundeswehr, arrived here today in implementation of the programme for promoting military political relations and military contacts between the Bulgarian army and the Bundeswehr. The schedule of the visit provides for meetings with the management of the Military Medical Academy in Sofia and the military hospital in Varna (Eastern Bulgaria). The first session of the Bulgaria-EU association committee will be held here on November 9 and 10, Foreign Ministry spokesman Radko Vlaikov told a briefing here today. The Bulgarian delegation to the session will be headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Irina Bokova, Government Secretary on European Integration, and the EU delegation by Sipke Braun, director in the first general directorate of the EU Commission. The Bulgarian-EU Association Committee was set up in implementation of Bulgaria's Europe Agreement, signed in March 1993, which entered into force last February. The Bulgaria-EU Association Council held its first meeting in Brussels last May. According to the Europe Agreement, the Council holds sessions once a year and the Committee holds sessions in between, assisting the work of the Council. UNESCO Director General Federico Mayor and Prof. Ivan Lalov, Rector of the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, signed in Paris today an agreement on setting up a UNESCO Department of Communications at Sofia University, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said. The department will be part of the Orbicom network. At a regular Foreign Ministry briefing today, Kosyo Kitipov, head of the Western Europe, US and Canada department, informed journalists of the consultations held between the foreign ministries of Bulgaria and Norway in Oslo on November 2. Kitipov headed the Bulgarian delegation to the consultations. The two sides discussed possibilities for promoting economic contacts between the two countries, for Norwegian investment in Bulgaria and for activating contacts between the ministries. Kitipov said the Norwegian side showed special interest in Bulgaria's policy in the Balkans. Kitipov said a visit by the Norwegian Foreign Minister to Bulgaria was scheduled for early next February. At its session today the State Fund for Reconstruction and Development decided to grant a credit of DM 700,000 to the chemical combined works in Shoumen (Northeastern Bulgaria). The funds will be used for new technologies. A decision was also adopted to start collecting the debts of the Neftochim oil refinery, totalling USD 50 million, the Government press office said. BUSINESS PRESS "I am ready to withdraw from the management of the Topenergy Bulgarian-Russian Gas Partnership, in case I do not have the Government's support, Andrei Loukanov, Chairman of Topenergy Supervisory Board says in an interview for "Troud". Loukanov is a former prime minister and an MP in the incumbent Parliament. A general meeting of the partnership's shareholders is scheduled for Tuesday. "A time may come that I would have to choose Topenergy or membership in Parliament," Loukanov states. "The implementation of the idea about Topenergy lies ahead," Sasho Donchev, Topenergy Executive Director and General Director for Natural Gas in the Multigroup economic conglomerate says interviewed by "Pari". Members of the public may have to pay taxes on the mass privatization vouchers, if Parliament does not take the necessary steps to prevent this, "24 Chassa" quotes jurists as saying. Sources from the Finance Ministry allegedly said that the vouchers count as income and should be declared in people's tax returns. "This means that almost every member of the public who has bought investment vouchers should have to pay a tax on them," the paper says. 24 Chassa" recalls that each Bulgarian adult will be eligible to receive 25,000 investment levs, given that annual income above 30,000 leva is taxable. However, the 500 leva paid for the voucher book should be deducted from the taxable income, the paper notes. |
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