Subject: Ta nea toy BTA 06-Feb-95[*] Ta nea apo thn Presbeia ths Boylgarias sthn Washington, D.C. . Aruro gia thn mellontikh episkech toy Boylgaroy Proedroy stis HPA. . Dhlwseis toy Boylgaroy Proedroy se thleoptikh ekpomph gia thn [merikh] entajh ths xwras sthn EE. . Anafora sthn synenteyjh toy Boylgaroy Prouypoyrgoy sthn efhmerida "To Bhma". . H omilia toy Prouypoyrgoy Z. Videnov kata thn diarkeia ths paroysiashs toy neoy Yp. Symboylioy stoys projenoys. * Episkech toy Projenoy kai toy Startiwtikoy Akoloyuoy ths Boylgarias sthn pGDM ston Yp.Am ths pGDM. Syzhthuhkan uemata amyntikhs synergasias, kai mellontikh episkech empeirognwmwnwn toy stratoy ths pGDM sthn Boylgaria. . Sxolia efhmeridwn gia toys ypochfioys twn Boyleytikwn epitropwn. Oi perissoteres sxoliazoyn thn dhlwsh toy ypochfioy gia to radio, thleorash kai to BTA sthn opoia eipe oti "ua synulicoyn thn [efhmerida] "Standart News" [efhmerida toy SDS]". . Aruro gia thn Amerikanikh ekuesh gia ta anurwpina dikaiwmata sthn Boylgaria. . Anafora se aruro Toyrkikhs efhmeridas poy anaferei oti "oi Mwameuanoi poy zoyn sthn Boylgaria einai Toyrkoi". . H hmerhsia efhmerida "Demokratsiya" ypainissetai kataskopeytikh drash yper ths Toyrkias toy neoy grammatea toy Yp. Es. . Anakrish toy T. Zhivkov gia thn symmetoxh ths Boylgarias sthn eisbolh sthn Tsexoslobakia. . Kainoyrio synoriako shmeio elegxoy metajy Boylgarias-Toyrkias. . To 1994 eginan 2331 prospaueies paranomhs eisodoy sthn Boylgaria, ek twn opoiwn to 60% apo ta synora me thn Ellada [profanws oxi Ellhnes!!]. . Oi ypoxrewseis kai ta dikaiwmata ths Boylgarias san melos ths EE. * H Ellhnikh Trapeza "Ionikh" elabe adeia leitoyrgeias sthn Boylgaria. Giwrgos Kapodistrias ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: bulgaria@access.digex.net (Embassy of Bulgaria) Subject: BTA inf/ Feb. 06,95 Date: 6 Feb 1995 19:26:08 -0500 EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA BTA - BULGARIAN TELEGRAPH AGENCY BULLETIN OF NEWS FROM BULGARIA FEBRUARY 6, 1995 PRESIDENT ZHELEV: FORTHCOMING VISITS The visit of President Zhelev at the head of a delegation to the United States between February 12 and 15 will end with the signing of a joint declaration, President's foreign policy advisor Kamen Velichkov told reporters yesterday, according to "Douma". The visit is expected to conclude economic agreements of mutual interest. The Bulgarian delegation will visit Washington and New York. US Ambassador in Sofia William Montgomery visited President Zhelev yesterday to particularize the program of the forthcoming visit. Ambassador Montgomery dismissed the allegations that the line-up of the Bulgarian delegation had been coordinated with his country, "Douma" says. "Standart News" reports that William Montgomery and the new Foreign Minister Georgi Pirinski discussed at a meeting the Cabinet's intended ways of taking the country out of the economic crisis as well as Bulgaria's role in the Balkans. The visit to the United States will give Bulgaria an opportunity to strengthen its positions in Washington, "Standart News" quotes Montgomery as saying to Pirinski. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESIDENT ZHELEV INTERVIEWED FOR PANORAMA Sofia, February 4 - President Zhelev described the entry into force of Bulgaria's Europe Agreement as one of the most important events in Bulgarian history after World War I. Speaking in Panorama, the weekly roundup of political events on national television, President Zhelev said the Agreement's entry into force on February 1 was a recognition for the democratic efforts and achievements of the Bulgarian people. Despite the hardships, despite the war in the former Yugoslavia and the economic sanctions, despite the mistakes made by the political forces, Bulgaria managed to keep the civil peace, Zhelev said. Association with the European Union is not yet full membership, but it opens great opportunities to Bulgaria: access to the Western markets, with certain limitations of course; access to modern Western technologies; greater confidence in Bulgaria which opens the way to foreign investment. Zhelev expressed a hope that the Agreement would bring improvements in the freedom of movement of Bulgarians in Europe by making it freer than it is now. Finally, association with the EU rules out a reversal of the democratic process in Bulgaria, Zhelev said. President Zhelev thanked all Bulgarian governments since 1990 which, in his view, paved the way for the signing of the Europe Agreement. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PRIME MINISTER VIDENOV INTERVIEWED FOR A GREEK NEWSPAPER "24 Chassa" reports about an interview of the new Bulgarian Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Party Zhan VIdenov for the Greek weekly "To Vima". The attempts to draw axes and spheres of influence in the Balkans will lead to confrontation between the countries in the region, Videnov told "To Vima". In his view, however, the current security systems needed adjustments. According to Videnov, Bulgaria will aspire for integration with military and political structures like NATO and the WEU, retaining the good relations with its traditional partners. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sofia, February 3 - Prime Minister Videnov today introduced the new cabinet ministers to the Ambassadors to Bulgaria at the Boyana residence. In his speech Videnov said he had received a clear mandate from the Bulgarian voters and would implement their will despite the difficulties lying ahead. Videnov said the cabinet ministers stood united in their views on the ways of helping Bulgaria out of the crisis and effecting a transition to a democratic society and a socially oriented market economy. Setting forth the government's main objectives and tasks in the economic area, Videnov stressed that some of the measures designed to help Bulgaria emerge from the crisis would be painful. He stated that privatization, the rehabilitation of the banking system and reform in other areas would run into serious difficulties without foreign investment and technical assistance. "We will stick to the track of active cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank and we hope that by the end of March we will be able to make an in-depth analysis of the problems and come up with mutually acceptable solutions together with the representatives of the two institutions," Videnov said. He expressed hope that the G-24 and the UN mechanisms would be instrumental in winning more favorable terms for Bulgaria as a way of mitigating the adverse effects of the sanctions against Yugoslavia on Bulgaria's economy and trade. Videnov also said that this country's membership in the World Trade Organization, which replaced GATT, would open up new prospects for its participation in global economic cooperation. He appealed to the governments of the countries represented by their Ambassadors at the meeting for cooperation at the forthcoming talks. Videnov said Bulgaria's foreign policy priorities were its integration into the European economic, political and military organizations and closer relations with the Euro-Atlantic structures. "Bulgaria's associate membership of the European Union, effective as of February 1, is an important step to the next objective - full EU membership," the prime minister also said. Bulgaria's active involvement in the discussion of NATO's expansion to the east and the fulfillment of Bulgaria's commitments to the Partnership for Peace plan and the Western European Union will be high on the new cabinet's list of priorities, Videnov said. "We will seek to achieve our aims in the area of national security in active cooperation with the US and Russia," Videnov said. He stressed the government's readiness to continue Bulgaria's active contribution to the work of other world and European institutions - the UN, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe. Speaking about Bulgaria's Balkan policy, the prime minister said this country would continue to build confidence, security and good relations in the region. Bulgarian diplomacy will counter any attempt to fan historical enmities and nationalistic ambitions among the Balkan states, to revive or create new antagonistic political axes or blocs in the Balkans, Videnov said. He told the Ambassadors that the cabinet would prioritize efforts to end the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and to prevent it from spilling over, and would actively support the initiatives of the international community designed to end the bloodshed in Bosnia-Herzegovina. "In addition to further building relations with Bulgaria's foreign partners, the cabinet will seek to rebuild relations which have been in decline, as well as to establish new contacts with states and regions which are potentially of political and economic interest to Bulgaria," Videnov said in conclusion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bulgarian Ambassador to Macedonia Angel Dimitrov and military attachi Colonel Nikolai Iliev were received today by Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Hadzijski, the BTA correspondent in Skopje reported. The two sides expressed readiness to restore contacts for cooperation in the defense sphere, a spokesman of the Macedonian Defense Ministry said. The meeting also discussed a forthcoming visit of a group of Macedonian military experts to Bulgaria at the invitation of the Bulgarian Defense Ministry on February 6 through 8, 1994. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PARLIAMENT - COMMITTEE CHAIRMEN All newspapers comment on the candidates for the chairmanship of the parliamentary committees, who will be put to the vote next week. Most comments focus on George Ganchev, leader of the Bulgarian Business Bloc, nominated to chair the Committee on Radio, Television and BTA. "The Socialist MPs decided to give the Committee on Radio, Television and BTA to George Ganchev as a compensation for his aspirations to foreign policy," "Standart News" says. The same daily runs Ganchev's photo and his statement to the press: "National television is in for serious changes. And we'll crush 'Standart News'." Commenting on the same subject, Ivo Indjev, Editor-in-Chief of "Demokratsiya", says: "The brotherhood of journalists have a new guardian, who is ignorant about information. George Ganchev has already drawn his sword, his first step being to threaten that naughty journalists will be jailed." "BSP Trades the Air" runs a headline in "Continent". "George Ganchev traded off his support for the Democratic Left for the chairmanship of the media committee... Thus the national media will have to bow to George Ganchev's long shadow and give him enough exposure on camera and microphones." The writer believes there is more to this than meets the eye and speculates on the tactics and the strategy of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP). "Ganchev can be trusted to make the personnel changes in the radio and television management to which the BSP does not want to commit itself. This petty tradeoff of parliamentary committees may continue on a larger scale when it comes to the passage of one act or another," "Continent" says. Interviewed by "24 Chassa", George Ganchev says the Committee will seek to "raise the standard of the media for the benefit of the nation". By secret ballot the Democratic Left yesterday approved its candidates for the leadership of 13 committees; the vote for seven committees will be retaken on Tuesday, the Socialist "Douma" daily reports. There were no alternative candidates for three committees only and the nominees are: Nikolai Dobrev for the chair of the National Security Committee, Nikola Koichev for the chair of the Social Affairs Committee, and Ana Karaivanova for the deputy chairmanship of the Ethics Committee, whose chairman will be nominated by the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. The daily frontpages a detailed report on the outcome of the vote on the candidacies for the rest of the committees. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BULGARIA IN 1994 US STATE DEPARTMENT HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT In a front-page report, headlined "Washington Concerned about Panev Act and Political Processes", "Douma" writes about the conclusions of the annual report of the US State Department about the human rights in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is a parliamentary republic with a democratic government, but the legal procedures initiated against certain former high-ranking Communists have been politically motivated. According to "Douma", the report cites higher rates of xenophobia, nationalism and ethnic intolerance among the Bulgarian population. The report acknowledges that Bulgaria's Constitution guarantees the citizens' rights, their freedom of movement and association as well as freedom of speech; the Government does not interfere with the press and the mass media. According to the report, however, certain big financial groups control dailies and sometimes dictate their contents. The report says that the preliminary investigation launched last year by Prosecutor General against Douma's editor-in-chief Stefan Prodev in connection with two articles against the President, threatened the freedom of the speech. There are no political prisoners in Bulgaria, but certain former Communist leaders have been prosecuted for political reasons, the document says. The Bulgarian Mohammedans and the Macedonians are considered ethnic minorities. Gypsies suffer beatings at detainment and none has been taken to task for this brutality. According to the report, the Bulgarian population is showing intolerance to unorthodox religions and religious groups and hampers their activity in the country. Government actions also violate the rights of the missionaries from non-Eastern Orthodox communities coming to Bulgaria, the report says. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TURKISH PAPER ON BULGARIAN MOHAMMEDANS "Standart News" and "24 Chassa" inform about a publication in the Turkish paper "Zaman" alleging that the Bulgarian Mohammedans are actually Turks of the Cumans tribe that came from Central Asia in the 11th century. Millions of people of Turkish origin live in the Balkan peninsula - from Bosnia to Romania and from Macedonian to Western Thrace, the author of the article, Cemal Dogan, states. The "Standart News" piece of information is headlined "Turkish Author Invents New History of Bulgarian Mohammedans". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Referring to a well-informed source, the SDS daily "Demokratsiya" writes that the new secretary of the Interior Ministry, Paraskev Paraskevov, headed the Turkey Department of the National Security Service in 1992 when the secret services leaked a list of Bulgarian agents working under cover. What is more, the activity of Paraskevov and several other members of the armed forces should be investigated by the Armed Forces Prosecutor's Office, the paper says. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Former communist leader Todor Zhivkov was examined about Bulgaria's participation in the Warsaw Pact invasion of ex- Czechoslovakia, "Standart News" and "Troud" write. The interrogation is a top secret and Armed Forces Prosecutor Nikolai Kolev declined any comment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEW CHECKPOINT PLANNED FOR BORDER WITH TURKEY Sofia, February 3 - Answering an MP's question concerning the establishment of a checkpoint on the Bulgarian-Turkish border, Prime Minister Zhan Videnov today said that the initiative came from the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry, which served Turkey a note dated January 31, 1995, proposing a bilateral meeting on the matter. The two countries' experts will work out the details on opening of a border crossing at the village of Lessovo (Southeastern Bulgaria). Bulgaria suggests that the meeting be held in the second half of February. The first round of negotiations between Bulgaria and Turkey was held and a protocol was signed on the establishment of a checkpoint in mid-December 1994, the Prime Minister said. Bulgaria will be responsible for the construction plan of the checkpoint, the road link and part of the international road between Yambol (Southeastern Bulgaria) and Edirne. The Council of Ministers will take appropriate action to procure investment and ensure the speedy construction of the checkpoint, Mr. Videnov said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sofia, February 3 - Bulgarian border guards caught 2,331 persons in 663 attempts at illegal border crossing in 1994, "Bulgarska Armia", the Defense Ministry's daily, said today. Most of them attempted to cross into some of Bulgaria's neighbors. Some 60 per cent of illegal crossings were prevented at the Bulgarian-Greek border, most of them in the Petrich area where 1,100 persons were caught. On 81 occasions the violators resisted arrest. Significantly, 98 per cent of foreign nationals attempting illegal crossing entered Bulgaria on valid documents. A large proportion of illegal border crossings were attempted by groups of as many as 50 to 70 people. Nationals of 45 states have been caught by the Bulgarian authorities. Romanians top the list with 481 violators, followed by Bulgarian Gypsies, 292, and Iraqi nationals, 274. Only one person from each of the following countries was caught in the act of crossing the Bulgarian border: Slovakia, Germany, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Slovenia, Belarus, Italy, Croatia, Chad, the UK, Jordan and Kuwait. In 1994, 204 rings trafficking people were busted, "Bulgarska Armia" says. Smuggling is showing an upward trend, especially at Bulgaria's northern and western border. The border authorities prevented 85 attempts at smuggling, twice as many as in 1993. The border troops service reported a large number of violations in Bulgarian territorial waters in the Black Sea and the Danube River. Over 50 breaches of the navigation rules by foreign and Bulgarian-flag vessels were established. There were as many as 33 violations by 80 fishing boats east of Cape Rezovo and the contiguous area (the easternmost point of Bulgaria's southern border). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 102 PREFERENTIAL TARIFF TREATMENT IN BULGARIAN-E.U. TRADE Sofia, February 3 - The Europe Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Bulgaria, of the other part entered into force on February 1, 1995. Eleven days earlier, on January 20, the Council of Ministers adopted a Decree on the fulfillment in 1995 of the obligations of the Republic of Bulgaria arising from its trade agreements with the European Union. The decree reduced the customs duties on imports applicable in Bulgaria to products originating in the European Union by 70 per cent of the basic duty in respect of cheese, potatoes, tobacco, coffee, tea and certain vegetable fats and by 85 per cent of the basic duty in respect of large cattle and large-cattle meat, live poultry, milk and cream, rice, oranges, ready-to-serve foods, canned meats and vegetables and frozen orange juice. This preferential treatment will be enjoyable only if the goods are accompanied by a EUR 1 movement certificate issued by a Member State of the Union. Bulgaria was admitted to the EC Generalized System of Preferences on January 1, 1991, when it was granted a most favored nation tariff treatment. The entry into force of the Interim Agreement on trade and trade-related matters totally abolished duties on certain types of ores, salt, sulfur, crystalline graphite and chemical products. In accordance with the principle of asymmetry underlying the Agreement, the EU liberalized its imports faster. No clause in the document bound Bulgaria to introduce reciprocal action easing the access of EU goods to its own markets. With the signing of the Second Additional Protocol to the Interim Agreement at the end of 1994, the European Union unilaterally facilitated further the access of Bulgarian goods to its markets effective January 1, 1995. The reduction period for the duties on footwear, leather, fertilizer and some chemical products was cut to two years. Even though these goods account for an insignificant portion of Bulgaria's total exports, they form the bulk of exports to the EU countries. Under the Second Additional Protocol, the import duties on Bulgarian textiles and clothing will be eliminated by 1997. The quantitative restrictions on Bulgarian textile imports will apply for four instead of five years. As from the beginning of 1995 Bulgarian industrial products, which are subject to tariff quotas, are imported duty-free to the markets of the EU countries, trade experts recall. To be eligible for export to the European Union, Bulgarian goods must be accompanied by a certificate issued by the Bulgarian customs authorities or an exporter approved by them. The quota for export of small cattle and small-cattle meat to the European Union will be apportioned on a priority basis to traders who can prove that they carried out such export in 1994 or that they have invested in production, the Trade Ministry said. Entries will be graded according to the export price agreed in the foreign trade contract and the mode of payment. Last year experts of the Institute of Trade analyzed trade between Bulgaria and the EU countries and the prospects for its expansion. They found that the positive impact of Bulgaria's effective agreements on two-way trade concessions with the EU and EFTA countries suggested that in the short term the European Union members will be this country's main suppliers, while Central and Eastern Europe will remain Bulgaria's principal export markets. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BUSINESS PRESS Sofia, February 3 - The Greek Ionian Bank received a banking license from the National Bank of Bulgaria (BNB, the central bank) and thus became the second Greek and the sixth foreign bank operating here, "Pari" says. The Greek bank opened a representation office in Bulgaria in 1993. Bank's head Haralampos Tsaruhas told "Pari" that the bank will offer full banking service to persons and companies, but will mainly strive to service the commodity exchange between partners of the two neighboring states and facilitate the Greek investors in Bulgaria. ============================================================================== George Kapodistrias Boston University Dept. Of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering