EUR 5 billion will be invested by 2020 for the development of Bulgarian regions

More than EUR 5 billion are invested in Bulgaria in the 2014-2020 period under the Operational Programme “Regions in Growth”, the Rural Development Programme and several European Territorial Cooperation programmes for the development of Bulgarian regions.

The funds are for the construction and rehabilitation of roads, border checkpoints, repair of schools and health facilities, rehabilitation of residential buildings, flood protection measures, development of farms and enterprises, renewal of urban environment and villages, promotion of tourism, etc.

This was announced by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Petya Avramova during her participation in the Fourth Ministerial Meeting within the Regional Development Policy Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Athens, Greece.

Before the participants in the forum on “Megatrends: building better futures for regions, cities and rural areas” the Minister pointed out that over the last decade Bulgaria has gained valuable experience in policy management, which has helped the national regional policy to acquire a new dimension. She said that the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works is actively working to develop regional policy and address the challenges facing Bulgarian cities and regions.

Global megatrends such as digitalisation, demographic change, climate change, resource scarcity, urbanization, migration, security are constantly affecting our societies and economies, transforming the way people live and work. These leading trends should not be perceived as a threat, on the contrary, they open new opportunities for development for our economies, said Petya Avramova.

The Minister noted that technology, innovation and digitalisation can be an additional stimulus for creating economic growth and inclusion, where more practical models and adequate mechanisms should be created to quickly adapt central and local government systems to the new trends.

Petya Avramova emphasised that ensuring technology transfer and digitalisation and reducing disparities are among Bulgaria’s top priorities, but creating digital skills and building the necessary infrastructure remain some of the biggest challenges. At the same time, the digital transformation has great potential for creating new jobs, increasing the productivity and competitiveness of enterprises. Creating modern policies to address social, technological and environmental issues is a major challenge for building and managing smart cities and rural areas.

The Regional Minister commented that specific and pragmatic actions are needed to bring about a change in attitudes, approaches and steps towards the implementation of regional inclusion and cohesion policies in order to achieve sustainable regional development. Economic growth, technological growth and innovation should be an integral part of the implementation of individual policies and determine their direction. The modern models and tools for policy management should be in line with the rapidly growing technologies and innovations in order to be able to respond to them adequately and in a timely manner, said Petya Avramova.

The Minister noted that Bulgaria is working hard to join the OECD. She thanked the representatives of the organisation for the cooperation in the process of increasing the capacity of the Managing Authority of the regional programme in connection with the effective structuring and management of the European Structural and Investment Funds in the programming period after 2020. Petya Avramova said that on March 1 the National Assembly ratified the cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and the OECD to review multilevel governance, which will help strengthen the capacity of sub-national structures at the regional level.

Bulgaria is in the process of negotiating membership in the Organisation together with Brazil. Our country has very good prospects for membership in the short term, it became clear at the meeting, in view of the ongoing projects and commitment of the government.

As a result of the ministerial meeting, a declaration was adopted, including measures to ensure a better future for regions, cities and rural areas.