September 30 in History.
Standartnews
In 1869 the Bulgarian Literature Society was established in Braila (since 1911 on, the Bulgarian Academy of Science (BAS). Its regulations were adopted and Prof. Marin Drinov was elected its first Chairman.
In 1884 a customs agreement was signed between Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia on duty-free imports of staples.
In 1885 Prince Alexander Battenberg sent a letter of information to Serbian King Milan I Obrenovic about the proclamation of the Union between Principality Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia. He appealed to solidarity and support on Serbian behalf.
In 1933 King Boris met Yugoslavian King Alexander in Euxinograd.
First Snowfall Within A Week.
Standartnews
Evgeny Genov
Victoria Serafimova
We'll put on warm coats already on Wednesday, meteorologists say. Heavy debtors of the Central Heating Agency will remain in the cold.
The winter is coming a bit too early and the first snowfall may surprise us within a week, meteorologists warned. The snow is expected first in the high-up mountain resorts and towns. So far Sofia has a chance to get away without snowdrifts. According to the most favorable forecasts, the first snow flakes in Sofia will fall in October. This year October and November are expected to be by far colder and with more rainfalls. Cold weather may make us turn on the central heating any moment, said sources from the Heating Agency. The households that have heavy debts to the Agency may be left in the cold.
Rainstorms wreak havoc in eastern Bulgaria.
AP
SOFIA, Bulgaria - A Honduran ship ran aground near Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast Monday, as rainstorms flooded roads and trapped thousands of villagers in their homes, officials said. There were no reports of injuries.
The 4,000 metric ton (4,400 ton) Moonlake ran aground near the port of Varna, 470 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of Sofia, as the storm tore the anchor chain and sent the ship drifting toward the rocky shore, Stoicho Stoev, a rescue officer told The Associated Press.
The 13-man crew remained unharmed, and seven crew members were taken to the shore.
Stoev said rescue teams were waiting for the sea to calm down to reload 53 metric tons (58 tons) of oil from the ship onto a barge.
"It's got stuck on rocks, and if the hull gets punctured the oil will spill out, causing a bad environmental accident," Stoev said.
Bulgaria's key Black Sea ports of Varna and Burgas reopened Monday after being closed for stormy weather on Sunday.
The storms have also trapped more than 2,000 residents in their villages as swollen rivers destroyed six bridges and flooded roads in the district of Burgas, some 400 kilometers (240 miles) southeast of Sofia, the news agency BTA reported.
Krastyu Daskalov, a Civil Defense duty officer in Burgas, declined to provide further details on the phone.
BTA said worst hit were the municipalities of Tsarevo and Ruen, where floods blocked roads.
(vz/rp)
ROMANIA - BULGARIAN BOAT MASTERS - SENTENCE.
BTA
Bucharest, September 30 (BTA) - The Appellate Court of Constanta in Romania Monday passed two-year suspended sentences and ordered confiscation of the boats of Bulgarian sea skippers Yordan Pleshkov, Krassimir Dimitrov, Georgi Lyapov and Georgi Atanassov, Bulgarian Ambassador in Bucharest Nikolai Milkov told BTA. On Friday, the same sentence was imposed on another Bulgarian boat master, Sevdalin Manolov.
The five were acquitted by a first-instance court, but the prosecutors appealed the verdict.
Defence lawyer Sonia Geagiu expressed readiness to appeal the sentence before the Supreme Court in Bucharest.
Given this sentence, there are no valid reasons to detain the Bulgarian boat masters in Romania, the Ambassador said.
"All institutions have assured us that the Bulgarian boat masters are not barred from leaving Romania and they are free to leave the country, but this has not actually happened," Ambassador Milkov said.
He will hold a meeting at the Consular Department of the Romanian Foreign Ministry Tuesday, "as the Ministry is expected to sort out the positions of all institutions on this matter."
Also on Tuesday, Bulgarian Consul Plamen Petkov is expected to deliver a note to the Romanian Border Police, stating the intention of the boat masters to leave Romania, Milkov said. "A week ago the Border Police refused to accept declarations to this effect, although such a refusal is unwarranted from a purely administrative perspective," the Ambassador said.
Consul Petkov is expected to discuss with the Border Police concrete ways in which the Bulgarians can leave the country, as not all of them carry international travel passports or IDs. "Technically, they have not crossed the border into Romania, they have no entry stamps, so in order to leave the country they have to be extradited, i.e. escorted to the border and transferred to the Bulgarian border authorities," Milkov said.
Four Bulgarian boats and their crews were detained in Romania's exclusive economic zone on May 3 and 4 on charges of poaching. Romanian law bans shark fishing at this time of the year. The fishermen claim that they got lost and that there is no seasonal ban on shark fishing.
The five men were officially indicted for poaching and performing economic activities in Romanian waters.
Bulgarian student faces federal charge for allegedly carrying boxcutters, scissors on plane.
By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey - Federal charges were filed against a Bulgarian student who allegedly tried to pass through airport security with a pair of scissors and two boxcutters, the FBI said.
The man apparently had no ties to terrorism, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Stigall on Monday.
"The government has no evidence that the defendant's activities were part of any terrorist plot," Stigall said. "It appears to be an isolated incident."
Nikolay Volodiev Dzhonev, 21, was charged with attempting to board an aircraft with a concealed weapon, a felony, said FBI spokeswoman Sandra Carroll.
Dzhonev was being held on $100,000 bail, but Stigall said he would likely be released on his own recognizance.
"He seems like a real sweet kid, not your archetypical terrorist," said public defender Christopher O'Malley, who first met his client late Monday afternoon.
Dzhonev was arrested Sunday as he was about to board a flight to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
A search of his backpack turned up scissors embedded in a bar of soap, and the boxcutters in a lotion bottle, said Robert Johnson, a spokesman for the federal Transportation Security Administration.
The way the items were concealed and the fact that Dzhonev had a one-way ticket bought over the Internet raised suspicions, Johnson said. He said the suspect told authorities he packed the items that way to keep them from damaging anything else in his backpack.
Authorities said he was a student from Bulgaria with a summer visa allowing him to work at an Atlantic City-area convenience store. He said he bought the Spirit Airlines ticket so he could visit a friend in South Carolina.
His housemates, all students who work at the convenience store, described the incident as a misunderstanding. Diana Fecior, 21, of Romania, said Dzhonev had never been in an airplane before traveling to the United States.
"He wasn't very familiar with the rules," she said. "He didn't know it was not proper."
WRITERS-COOPERATION.
BTA
Sofia, September 30 (BTA) - The Union of Bulgarian Writers and the Macedonian Writers' Association signed a cooperation agreement in Sofia Monday. The document has the signatures of Nikola Radev, the chairman of the Bulgarian Union, and his Macedonian counterpart Vele Smilevski.
The document provides for various formats of cooperation, including literature festivals, book translation and cooperation in research.
MACEDONIA-BULGARIA-THEATRE.
BTA
Skopje, September 30 (BTA) - The Skopje audience gave standing ovation to the Sunday night performance of Carlo Gozzi's The King Stag staged by Sofia's Ivan Vazov National Theater under the direction of Marius Kurkinski.
The Ivan Vazov troupe performed within the framework of a festival of modern theatre called Youth Open Theatre (MOT), that is held annually in the Macedonian capital.
Interest in the Bulgarian performance was stirred by the successful participation of the Ivan Vazov theatre in last year's MOT with Romeo and Juliet of director Julia Abadjieva.
USA - BULGARIAN FINANCE MINISTER - AWARD.
BTA
Bulgarian Finance Minister Velchev Receives Financial Minister of the Year Award In Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., September 30 (BTA Special Correspondent Dimiter Anestev) - Bulgarian Finance Minister Milen Velchev received on Monday the Financial Minister of the Year award of the economic journal EuroMoney. The award was conferred by EuroMoney Director Padraic Fallon at a ceremony held in Washignton's Shoreham Hotel.
Other winners of the annual EuroMoney award are Pakistani Finance Minister in 2001, former US treasury secretary Ronald Rubin, Polish finance minister Leszek Balcerowicz.
US-BULGARIA-MEETINGS.
BTA
Bulgaria Wants to Be Recognized As Working Market Economy by US Washington D.C., September 30 (BTA special correspondent Dimiter Anestev) - Bulgaria hopes to be recognized by the United States as a working market economy, Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev said here.
Vassilev, who heads a Bulgarian delegation to the annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank, and Finance Minister Milen Velchev gave a briefing for the Bulgarian journalists covering their participation in the forum of the two international financial institutions.
Getting a recognition will be of no material benefit for the country but it will surely promote bilateral business relations, Vassilev said.
Russia has requested and received such recognition from the US, Velchev added.
Bulgaria has never put such a request officially to the US. It is expected to raise the issue on Monday when Vassilev is having meetings at the US Department of Trade.
The Economy Minister, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, had a meeting in Washington D.C. with the President of the Crans Montana Forum, Jean Paul Cartenone. The two discussed Bulgaria's idea to host a regional economic forum. The initiative will also be on he agenda of Cartenone's visit to Sofia, which he agreed to make on the invitation of the Bulgarian side.
Sofia wants to organize the forum in April next year. A tentative agenda includes discussions on corruption and economic crimes, the development of democracy and globalism, among other issues.
Vassilev and Velchev had a working lunch with representatives of the investment bank UBS Warburg, where Bulgaria urged the bank to get involved as a consultant in the privatization of stock of major Bulgarian companies on the stock exchange.
A delegation of Bulgarian businessmen led by Deputy Economy Minister Nikola Yankov is also in Washington. They will have talks with senior representatives of the World Bank, the IMF and IFC. Nikolai Vassilev has meetings with arms manufacturer General Dynamics.
At the opening of the annual meeting of the IMF and the World Bank on Sunday, the Bulgarian Finance Minister spoke about the economic progress of the country. He was the sixth speaker on the agenda, following IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler. Members of the Bulgarian delegation recalled that Velchev has previously spoken at the IMF/WB annual meeting in 1995.
MONEY LAUNDERING BILL - DEBATE.
BTA
Criminal Assets Forfeiture Bill to Allow Confiscation of Property Abroad.
Sofia, September 30 (BTA) - The Criminal Assets Forfeiture Bill will contain provisions for confiscation of property abroad, Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov told reporters on Monday emerging from a nearly one-hour meeting with Susan Smith, Senior Trial Attorney with the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice. Smith is an international expert on money laundering issues.
Under the US legislation, the civil confiscation law can be enforced with regard to property located on the territory of a foreign state. Petkanov said Smith recommended that such a provision be included in the Bulgarian law too, which, he said, will be done.
In the United States the issue for civil forfeiture is treated in several laws, and not into one bill, as in this country.
Petkanov said that the Money Laundering Act, the Drugs Control Act and the Act on Fighting Terrorism all have sections on property forfeiture.
Smith said that the first law in the series was passed in the United States in 1996, and the last, in 2000. Proceeds from civil assets forfeiture totalled about 750 million US dollars annually in the past two years. The US official said that there are about 2,000 procedures for property forfeiture annually in the United States but the bulk of these are challenged in court.
Petkanov said that confiscation of property in a foreign state will be enforceable when there is an agreement to this effect with the respective country. He said that enforcement of the bill after it is passed will not be expensive as it does not require the establishment of a special body but instead will be enforced by the Economic Police, the tax authorities, the Financial Investigation Bureau. The proceedings will be two-instance.
Petkanov said that the assets forfeiture bill can co-exist with the bill on amnesty of capital proposed by Ahmed Dogan, leader of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and Freedoms, but as the two laws are yet in the draft stage, the issue cannot be discussed more precisely.
The working group of the Interior Ministry drafting the bill will hold consultations with German and French experts too. Petkanov said he hopes the final draft of the bill will be submitted for discussion to the Council of Ministers within a month.
Tomatoes Hiked 4 Levs Per Kg.
Standartnews
Milko Hristov
Prices of vegetables upped twofold because of the higher export duties.
Prices of tomatoes high-rocketed in Sofia. In the weekend, retailers asked up to 4 levs per kilo. "These are the last vegetables this season and this is why the prices are so high," a market seller elaborated. She complained that the torrential rains this year devastated more than half of the production and they were forced to raise the prices to compensate for the losses. And after the protective duties were imposed, the cheap until lately import from Turkey also upped in prices and Bulgarian sellers lacked competition. Reporters from "Standart" found out that tomatoes good-for-nothing were sold 1 lev per kilo in Sofia marketplaces. In Varna the price is 1.20 levs, in Bourgas 1 lev and in Pazardjik even 0.50 levs. Last week retailers increased the prices of all the vegetables almost twofold.
Bulgaria Needs Not IMF Funds.
Standartnews
Switch to "protective agreement" with IMF considered.
Speaking to Bulgarian journalists in the IMF headquarters in Washington D.C., Bulgarian Finance Minister summed up the Saturday talks of the Bulgarian delegation with IMF Mission Leader for Bulgaria Jerald Schiff. Before that Velchev and Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev had a working breakfast with Citigroup Vice President Stanley Fischer. Velchev said that at the meeting with Schiff the two sides discussed the idea of making the agreement with the IMF what he called "protective". "This is an idea on which neither side has a final decision," Velchev added. If both sides accept it, they will continue the negotiations on the size and timing of the tranches. They money will be made available but will be utilized only if and when Bulgaria absolutely has to, Velchev explained. According to him, Bulgaria now needs less and less of the Fund money. "It would be best if the country has the security of being able to use IMF funding, without having the tranches remitted on a regular basis and then having to pay interest on it." Over the next couple of months, the two sides will be discussing the proposal. The Finance Minister expects a final position in November and then the two sides can put the scheme into practice as of January, when the IMF Board will have to take a final formal decision. The next IMF tranche is due in early 2003. The new scheme may be first applied to the new tranche, and then Bulgaria will not take the money but reserve the right to utilize it when and if it needs it. The Finance Minister believes that the switch to such "a protective agreement" will send very strong signals to the world financial circles. The idea has the strong support of the IMF Mission for Bulgaria and the country hopes to hear IMF praise for its confidence that it can manage on its own resources, Velchev said. Even with the new arrangement, Bulgaria will continue to fulfill its commitment to the IMF, the Finance Minister said. He added that Bulgaria gets from the Fund less than it does from the World Bank and other sources. Bulgaria is also considering early payment on its short-term debts. It is yet to be decided in the coming months whether such payments will be made to the IMF or other creditors, Velchev said.
Stanley Fischer: Investments Fund? Yes, But Formed of Private Capitals.
Standartnews
The agenda of Velchev and Vassilev's meeting with Stanley Fischer was the government idea to set a risk capital fund to invest in increasing the capital of Bulgarian small and medium-sized enterprises. The project failed to solicit IMF support during the IMF Mission to Bulgaria last week but Velchev believes that the Fund has since assumed a more flexible position. His personal view is that there should be no obstacles provided that there is private matching to the government investment. Also, the fund should not be run by the Government. Stanley Fischer, who was on the IMF management before moving to Citigroup, is supportive of the risk capital fund project. He expects such a fund to help secure much needed investment in risk capital for small and medium-sized enterprises. Even though there is a shortage of such investment in Bulgaria at the moment, bank credits have become more available and their nominal value has doubled over the last two years, Velchev said. The Finance Minister believes that the government will be making a profit from its investment in the fund. JP Morgan have expressed interest to participate as a fund raiser and fund manager. Citibank too reportedly want to be involved. Later in the day Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev said that after a final decision is taken to set up a fund, the government will invite a competition for fund manager which will be open for all banks and companies with relevant experience.
BULGATRIAN MINISTERS - IMF - WB - MEETINGS.
BTA
IMF Believes that Bulgarian Government Will Not Speculate with Money in Venture Capital Fund.
Washington, D.C., September 30 (BTA Special Correspondent Dimiter Anestev) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes that the Bulgarian Government will not speculate with the money in the venture capital fund the country plans to create, IMF First Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger said on Monday after a meeting with Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Nikolai Vassilev and Finance Minister Milen Velchev.
The officials participating in the meeting discussed the, according to the IMF, problematic issues, Velchev said, and singled out the restructuring of the Bulgarian state railways, the health care system and education. Velchev said the IMF believes the government will not allow state interference in the economy. "There is no guarantee that the next government will avoid this," Krueger said at the meeting.
Velchev also met with his Dutch counterpart who chairs the so-called Dutch Group in the IMF. The two discussed issued relating to the joint work with the IMF and the Bulgarian-Dutch economic cooperation. Velchev informed his Dutch counterpart about the plans of the Bulgarian government to pay in advance the Bulgarian debt to The Netherlands of between 8 million and 13 million euros.
The Bulgarian delegations also met with World Bank Vice President Johannes Linn and Andrew Vorkink, World Bank Director for Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. The participants in the talks discussed the World Bank's conditions for extending to Bulgaria a loan supporting the structural reform, the programmatic assistance loan PAL-1, connected with the reforms in the Bulgarian state railways, the labour market and the creation of a unified revenue agency.
EU - PASSY - VERHEUGEN.
BTA
European Commissioner Verheugen: "Bulgaria Shows Strong Will to Solve Long-time Problem with Kozloduy N-Plant"
Brussels, September 30 (BTA Exclusive by Bulgarian National Television Correspondent Zornitsa Venkova) - "I think that the fact that Bulgaria shows strong will to solve long-time problem with Kozloduy nuclear power plant should be hailed," European Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Vergheugen said, commenting the new proposal of the Bulgarian Government about the Energy chapter in the EU accession talks. On Monday Verheugen met with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy.
"I informed the European Commissioner about the demand to send an expert group to assess the operational ability of the nuclear power plant. We know that such an assessment is the only way to expand Kozloduy's life and use its capacity," Passy said. He added that such a check taking place will be a breakthrough, although no categorical commitments on the issue have so far been made.
Verheugen said that he is well aware how controversial the issue is in Bulgaria, adding that the position of the Government complies with the EU requirements. He noted, however, that the solution to the problem is outside the competence of the European Commission and should be made by the EU member states.
Passy familiarized the European Commissioner with Bulgaria's efforts to be recognized as a working market economy. "If Bulgaria's economy receives such a mark, it will really open towards Europe and the world," Passy said. The outcome will be known next week when the European Commission is expected to release the report on Bulgaria's progress towards EU membership.
Verheugen confirmed that the enlargement process will not end with the finalization of the of the accession talks with the first-wave applicants. "This will happen only after Bulgaria and Romania are admitted in the EU," he said. He reiterated his view that at the EU summit in Copenhagen Bulgaria should be given dates for the end of the talks and its accession to the EU.
GIL IGLESIAS-MEETINGS.
BTA
President of the Court of Justice of the European Communities Appreciates Bulgaria's Devotion to European Integration, Importance Attributed to EU Law.
Sofia, September 30 (BTA) - Bulgaria's devotion to European integration and the importance attached to EU law was highly commended by Judge Gil Carlos Rodriguez Iglesias, President of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, who met with President Georgi Purvanov on Monday, the President's Press Secretariat said.
Purvanov informed Judge Iglesias about Bulgaria's efforts to approximate Bulgarian law to EU law and to study EU law as a necessary prerequisite for its future application by the Bulgarian courts.
The two praised the fruitful cooperation with the leading EU law centres in Brugge, Nancy, Trier and Florence in the training of Bulgarian magistrates.
Judge Iglesias is visiting Bulgaria on September 28-30 at the invitation of Ivan Grigorov, President of the Supreme Court of Cassation. The guest told Grigorov that Bulgarian justice was quite close to European justice, said Assya Gruncharova, Grigorov's Chef de Cabinet.
Judge Iglesias also talked with Prosecutor General Nikola Filchev. He was scheduled to meet with Parliament Chairman Ognyan Gerdjikov, who did not receive Iglesias and the attending delegation because they were 12 minutes late. Grigorov said he did not want to speak ill of his country, but it was a matter of good manners and honour to receive a guest of such high standing.
The St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia conferred an honorary doctor's degree on Judge Iglesias.
The guest is scheduled to talk with Supreme Administrative Court President Vladislav Slavov and Constitutional Court President Hristo Danov.
INTERNATIONAL AUTUMN TECHNICAL FAIR.
BTA
2,259 Exhibitors of 42 Countries at Plovdiv Autumn Technical Fair.
Plovdiv, September 30 (BTA) - Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha opened Monday the Autumn'02 International Technical Fair in Plovdiv, the second biggest city in Bulgaria.
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha underscored the importance of the first Bulgarian exhibition which was staged in Plovdiv 110 years ago. "On our way to the European model of life of today we, no less than our ancestors before us, need to have self confidence and faith in the power of the national idea for economic prosperity."
"I think that only those who have the courage to inspire respect in themselves will have the real opportunity to build a good future," said the prime minister.
This idea will be translated into reality during our lifetimes if everyone contributes to it and if competition among entrepreneurs takes place on the landscape of international economic cooperation, he stressed.
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha voiced his gratitude to Bulgarian producers and traders and wished them and foreign exhibitors success.
In terms of participants this year's exhibition hits a ten-year high. 2,259 companies of 42 countries will showcase their products in the 18 exhibition halls. Local companies number 1,072, of whom 493 are producers.
Visitors will also see the Planet Security 21st Century specialized fire and industrial accidents safety exhibition, The Town'02 international architecture exhibition and software exhibition, and an Auto Show '02.
The official ceremony was attended by ministers, MPs, representatives of the diplomatic missions, delegations of the Russian Federation and the chambers of commerce and industry of Romania and France.
BALANCE OF PAYMENTS-INVESTMENT.
BTA
January-July Direct Investment Stood at $255.9Mln, as Against $443.5Mln a Year Earlier.
Sofia, September 30 (BTA) - Direct investment in January-July stood at 255.9 million dollars, as against 443.5 million dollars a year earlier, the National Bank of Bulgaria's balance of payments as at end-July showed.
Investment is lower mainly due to the negative net intracompany credit and the foreign companies' investment decisions amid low growth rates of the world economy, the BNB said.
In January-July income credit was 213.2 million dollars, down by 14.5 million from a year earlier, when it stood at 227.7 million dollars. Income debit totalled 324.2 million dollars, down by 139.3 million dollars from a year earlier, when it stood at 463.5 million dollars, largely due to lower interest rates on the international financial markets.
Net current transfers totalled 310 million dollars in the first seven months of the year, up by 13.4 million dollars from a year earlier.
Portfolio investment by residents abroad dropped by 164.8 million dollars. A year eralier it increased by 66.1 million dollars. The drop was largely due to the sale of the released security after the external debt exchange in March.
Commercial banks increased their portfolio investment abroad by 36.9 million dollars. The year-earlier increase was 19.7 million dollars.
Portfolio investment liabilities dropped by 296.3 million dollars in the reference period, as against a decrease by 50.1 million dollars a year earlier. The drop is largely due to external debt reduction thanks to the March debt exchange transaction and residents' purchases of government bonds issued on the international capital markets.
Other investment assets fell by 442.1 million dollars, while a year earlier they increased by 64.8 million dollars.
The commercial banks' foreign exchange deposits abroad fell by 234.9 million dollars, while a year earlier they increased by 242.9 million dollars. The drop in deposits resulted from the banks' investments in government securities issued on the international financial markets and in Bulgaria, as well as due to increased lending to local companies.
Other investment liabilities increased by 270 million dollars (as against an 18.5-million-dollar increase a year earlier) due to credit, commercial credit included, received by the private sector.
In January-July 2002, the BNB forex reserves increased by 101.4 million dollars, while a year ago they dropped by 246 million dollars (fluctuations due to exchange rate variations have been excluded).
The forex reserves increased due to the sale of bonds put up as security following the exchange of external debt in March.
