Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The Connecting Europe Facility in the telecommunications sector provides 85.2 million euros for the development of digital service infrastructures, as well as technical assistance for project preparation for high speed Internet access. The working program for 2015 was presented today during the information day organized by the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications. More than 40 representatives of scientific organizations, universities, private companies and NGOs participated in the event.

One of the priorities in the working program is the continuation of the activities related to with electronic identification as it is essential for all digital service infrastructures. The funds provided for continuation of projects for integration of electronic identification systems in the provision of services amount to 7,000,000 euros. The funding of projects on electronic invoicing for electronic exchange of information between supplier and buyer is similar.

Ten million euros are insured for the development of the initiative to provide access to digital resources of Europe's cultural heritage (Europeana). Projects related to safe internet (Safer Internet) will be funded with 16 million euros.

Experts from MTITC reported on the participation of Bulgarian organizations in calls for proposal under Connecting Europe Facility in 2014. A total of 31 proposals in the field of "Safer Internet" have been submitted from all countries in the European Union, one of them being a Bulgarian project. The European Commission has approved funding for several of them, including the Bulgarian one. The Bulgarian project participants will expectedly receive funding that amounts to 220,000 euros. The signing of agreements for the selected projects in the field of infrastructure for safe Internet is planned for April - May 2015.

Technical assistance for drafting projects for high speed internet in 2014 was provided under the European Commission’s initiative "Connected Communities". Last year, under this initiative 115 proposals from 24 member states were submitted, 5 of them being Bulgarian ones. All participants in this initiative will be invited to join an online group for further discussion of the projects.