Public Relations and Protocol

At the beginning of his mandate, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Transport and Communications, Hristo Alexiev, took immediate action to prepare and submit for consideration to the European Commission the "Transport Connectivity" Program 2021-2027. After a consistent policy and efforts, the Transport Connectivity Program 2021-2027 was approved today by the European Commission. This is the first major infrastructure program for Bulgaria that has been adopted by the European Commission. The budget of the program is approximately 1.61 billion euros.

Bulgaria and Serbia will work together to guarantee their energy resources in view of the upcoming cold season. This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Transport and Communications, Hristo Alexiev, after speaking with the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of Serbia, Tomislav Momirovich.

The evacuation of all passengers from the bus that crashed in the night on Ruse-Veliko Tarnovo road was successful. This became a reality after the immediate action taken by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev.

The Bulgarian side is ready to provide airport fee incentives and suitable time slots for landing and take-off for air carriers to carry out regular flights between Sofia and Riyadh and Varna - Dammam. This was stated by the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Vladimir Varbanov during a meeting today with the Deputy Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Minister Plenipotentiary H.E. Naif bin Asai.

I am convinced that people involved in road traffic must go through such training and exams, go through a needle's eye to acquire skills with which to avoid dramatic situations on the road. This was stated by the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev at a meeting with representatives of unions and associations of teachers in driving schools. Deputy Minister Nikolay Naydenov and Deputy Chairman of the State Agency for Road Safety Dimitar Iliev also took part in the discussion at the initiative of the Road Transport Administration Executive Agency.

The specialized non-self-propelled vessels are designed to carry out rescue operations in the common Bulgarian-Romanian section of the Danube, in case of incidents and disasters and in operations to limit and eliminate spills of petroleum products and hazardous substances. The barges have specialized equipment and will be positioned in the ports of Ruse and Lom, and their scope will cover the common Bulgarian-Romanian section of the river.

Plamen Stanchev takes over the management of Sofia Airport EAD by Order of the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev.

The current Executive Director of Sofia Airport EAD, Krassimir Peshev, has been appointed a member of the Board of Directors of Plovdiv Airport EAD together with Doychin Angelov, pending a competition procedure.

Plamen Spasov and Petar Georgiev are released from the management of Plovdiv Airport EAD without being released from responsibility.

The Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev released the executive director of "Transport Construction and Restoration" Bozhidar Dzhelebov, and with this act he is not released from responsibility.

Ivo Yanakiev has been appointed a member of the Board of Directors of the company until a competition procedure is held.

The decision is in connection with the company's activities regarding the contract for the deepening of the Port of Varna, which is subject to checks by the Ministry of Interior and the Prosecutor's Office.

"Plovdiv Railway Junction is one of the most important railway sites in Bulgaria, of great regional, economic and strategic significance. With the modernization of infrastructure and new rolling stock we will achieve the strategic goal - Bulgaria on track. This is our goal, which we would like to develop and achieve, namely the society to benefit from modern, fast and comfortable railway transport", the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Bozhidar Kostadinov said during the first-sod-turning ceremony of a project for the development of Plovdiv Railway Junction.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications sent letters to the mayors of Ruse and Burgas, asking them to take action to transfer ownership of Ruse Airport and Ravnets Airport to the structure of the Ministry.

This is part of a targeted policy to restore the operation of small regional airports.

Minister Sabev proposes that airports become state-owned within the meaning of Art. 43 b of the Civil Aviation Act. This will allow them to be managed by an airport operator with 100% State participation, and without the need for changes in the laws.

Bulgaria will build a national infrastructure and supply, installation and personalization of a graphical user interface for Integrated Maritime Surveillance, allowing cross-border and transectoral exchange of information within Bulgaria and the European Union, based on the CISE data model.

The platform of a national CISE Node will be built under the project "Implementation of Integrated Bulgarian Maritime Surveillance (InBulMarS), based on a Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) for monitoring the EU maritime territory - with the acronym InBulMarS 2 ”.

Today, the Minister of Transport invited experts from Germany to prepare a logistical plan for the development of multimodal transport in Bulgaria and the efficiency of the transport network in our country. That was announced during a meeting between the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev, Deputy Minister Vladimir Varbanov and a representative of the Executive Board of the Port of Duisburg Thomas Schlipköter.

Daniela Vezieva has been appointed a Member of the Board of Directors of Holding BDZ EAD.

She will take the position after recording it in the Commercial Register.

"The thorough focus of the economic model will be on the customer. The railways are the green future of European Bulgaria", Vezieva commented on her priorities.

Bulgaria and Georgia have a common vision for the development of economic relations between the two countries, as it was pointed out during a meeting between the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia H.E. Tamuna Liluashvili.

The role of the Public Defender is very important for the Ministry of Transport and Communications, because the two institutions can work together to make citizens been heard and to have a strong civil society. This is what the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev stated at a meeting today with the Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva. The reason for the talks was the opinion of the Public Defender on the effectiveness of car eco-stickers.

Plans for the development of water transport are based on smart, sustainable and comprehensive growth, at a fundamentally new level, meeting the new political, economic and social goals. This is what the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Vladimir Varbanov said at the ceremony marking the 141st Anniversary of the establishment of the Naval Academy "N. Y. Vaptsarov".

Purposeful state policy and investment in maritime education are needed. This is what the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Sabev said at a meeting in the National Assembly with representatives of the maritime industry.

The participants in the dialogue pointed out that there was little interest in certain extremely important specialties in maritime transport. Therefore, the capacity of retired captains and professionals who could contribute with their experience and knowledge would be used.

An intermodal hub will be built on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia. This was agreed by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Hristo Alexiev and the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia Tomislav Momirovic during a meeting today in Dimitrovgrad, Serbia.

The Bulgarian state has incurred expenses in the amount of BGN 2 million for the operation to salvage the cargo ship Vera Su and this amount will be presented to the insurers of the vessel next week. This is what the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Hristo Alexiev said to journalists in Varna.

The ship was moved to TEREM-SHIPYARD so that it could be reinforced and then placed on the quay, because presently it generated additional costs for draining water out of it every day, the Minister added.

Today, the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Hristo Alexiev held a series of meetings at the Maritime Administration - Varna in connection with resolving the situation around the trade ship Vera SU. The Minister met with representatives of the salvage company, the ship's insurer and the cargo insurer.