EU Funds Minister Blames Serbia, Romania for Depopulation of Northwest Bulgaria
Bulgaria in EU | April 12, 2011, Tuesday // 13:45| views
EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev believes Bugaria`s Northwest region needs a specialized state policy. Photo by BGNES.
The unfavorable situation of Bulgaria's Northwest region is the result of a spillover effect from neighboring Serbia and Romania and not of domestic factors, according to Bulgarian EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev.
Donchev spoke Tuesday at a conference entitled "The Challenges before the Investment Climate in Northwest Bulgaria", as cited by BGNES.
The forum is the concluding event of InvestNorthWest - a project aimed at boosting the capacity of local administration and attracting foreign investors. The project is executed by the Bulgarian Economic Forum (BEF) with the financial support of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway granted under the European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism.
Minister Donchev also stressed that Bulgaria's Northwest region needs a specialized state policy. In his words, its problems will not be resolved solely through legal amendments and regulations but through effective leadership.
Northwest Bulgaria is EU's poorest region, Eurostat data showed recently. According to European statistics, Northwestern Bulgaria, or Severozapaden, is the NUTS 2 region with the smallest GDP per capita in the EU.
The contributions of the NorthWestInvest projects include 15 investment guidebooks with information on priority projects for municipalities, economic indicators for the region, etc.; a website aimed at attracting foreign investors with over 150 pages of information on municipalities in the Northwest region- www.investnorthwest.info; 5 research-oriented visits of municipal and district administrations to Norway aimed at presenting the region and establishing business contacts.
The concluding event of the NorthWestInvest project was attended by representatives of almost all participating municipalities.
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