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BULGARIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY |
On September 18th, 2002 in Antalia, Turkey, was conducted the 16th meeting of the SECIPRO commitees. BULPRO was represented by Mr. George Tchernev, president of BULPRO and Vice president of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).
BULPRO informed the attendants about the work done between the last two meetings. A presentation was made of the BULPRO brochure in English and the BCCI rating "Top 100 companies for 2001". Information was given about the work on the project website for trade and Transport Facilitation in Southeastern Europe www.ttfse.org. The attendants were informed about the problem of smuggling of leather products from Turkey etc.
From the side of HELLASPRO (Greece) the question was raised why the Bulgarian side is delaying the extension of the bridge between Kulata and Promahonas. On this topic, a letter was prepared by BCCI to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the Ministry of Finance, the Road Agency. We expect an answer until the middle of November with regard to the SECIPRO meeting to be held in December, 2002 in Skopie.
MAKPRO (Macedonia) raised the question of the increased duties on vegetable imports from Macedonia to Bulgaria. It was mentioned that this measure does not serve the liberalisation and increase of the bilateral trade.
The Romanian side - ROMPRO - informed about the normative readiness for a pilot implementation on the Danube Bridge of the single payment of border crossing fees. BULPRO requested this information in Romanian and English. In this matter, we deem important that Bulgaria also should have the normative readiness to implement the single-payment system on the border crossings and implement it not later than by the end of 2002, also as a pilot project on the Danube Bridge. This will lead to a quicker passing through the border crossings, less expenses for the crossing persons, less coruption and more budget income.
The participants in the meeting raised the question about Article 28 in the Foreigner Act of Bulgaria. According to §(1) of this article, the foreigner has to declare in written before the foreigner administrative control authority in the location of his/her stay the address of his/her stay within 48 hours after entering the country. This paragraph is creating complications to foreigners. It is proposed that the foreigners (if at all they are the persons responsible for this action), do the declaring at the border crossing. The other paragraphs of this article foresee the obligation of Bulgarian physical and juridical persons who give shelter to a foreigner to submit the information to the Ministry of internal affairs.
15 Octomber 2002
