The European Commission created a special fund of 500 million USD for the construction of the international European transport corridors from the newly enrolled countries in EU. With part of this fund some joint Bulgarian-Romanian infrastructural projects, on the 7th transport corridor on the common part of the river Danube in the region of the Belene and Batin islands, will be financed.

The EU has changed its definition for small and medium enterprise (SME). This will also be done in Bulgaria by changes in our present law. From now on as a micro-enterprise will be considered enterprises with up to 10 people personnel, till now it was 3 people, as a small-enterprise will be considered enterprises with up to 50 people personnel, till now it was 10 people and as medium- enterprise will be considered enterprises with up to 250 people personnel, till now it was 100 people. When we accept these categories, the Bulgarian SMEs will be recognized in the EU.

Which are the necessary documents for the starting of a new business, how to apply for credit and is it better to pay a patent or a corporate tax. This useful information can be found in the "Business Advisor" for SMEs, prepared by the Privatization Agency. It will appear in July and will be distributed for free in the whole country, said Angel Despotov, director of the organization.

This year inter-branch cooperation will be fostered in accordance with the GTZ project for "Stimulating the economy and employment in Bulgaria". It is a well-known fact that the level of automation and the use of IT technology and software are the key factors for the competitive power and the exporting abilities of modern companies. The companies in the electrical engineering field are the most likely partners for cooperation in the IT branch.

The most wanted electronic service among the companies in the IT branch is the possibility to make consultations and send VAT declarations online. On second place the companies rate the consultations on tax duties and fees and on third place they rate the bills of entry. This is the data collected in a research of the Bulgarian Association of IT ( BAIT ) and E-Government called "expectations and E-readiness " among 100 companies, members of BAIT.

In July US companies examined the Bulgarian military companies in the framework of the visit of an American business delegation. The delegation will consist of representatives of 11 American companies, from the key industries like - automobile parts, IT, telecommunications, defense industry, building components, power engineering, medical products, equipment for pollution control and tourist infrastructure.

Officials from the National Railway Company (NRC) announced that the debts of the company to "Ray" Holding are 3.148 million BGL. By March 31st this debts were 3.7 million BGL. For the period March-June the company has paid to the Holding 1.9 million BGL which is a payment increase of 0.9 million BGL.

In the strategy for the privatization of the carrier "Balkan Air" , is envisaged that no less than 51% of its capital will be offered for sale to strategic investors, and 25% of the stocks of the company will be set for sale on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. The way of sale will be a publicly announced competition in two stages.

The Telecommunication Regulating Committee, on a special meeting, announced that it has issued the first three licenses for private telephone operators. Orbitel and Netplus acquire national licenses for 20 years, whereas Globaltech-Bulgaria gains a 15 years license for telephone services on the territory of Sofia. The first two companies have to pay 180 thousand BGL initial license fee. The fee for Globaltech will be lower.

The Competition Protection Committee was referred to the matter of the leap in the prices of telephone communications. The uncertainty that BTC is using its monopolistic position to impose ungrounded prices of the services will be checked. The Committee may impose property sanctions to the telecom. Because BTC is already been fined in 1998, at present the sanction will be for a second violation-up to 500 000 BGL.

The five-member structure of the Supreme Administrative Court canceled part of the cash machine decree, according to which if it is necessary the dealer can issue sale's slips form a counterfoil. The Court announced that the decision can not be appealed and comes into power in the day when it is published in the official gazette.

On a special meeting yesterday the Advisors Committee of the Privatization Agency decided to appeal the ruling of the three-member structure of the Supreme Administrative Court for the sale of BTC. On 20th of July the Supreme Administrative Court canceled the ruling of the Advisor Committee with which the deal between Viva Ventures Holding-Vienna and the Privatization Agency for the privatization of 65% of BTC's capital was ceased.

In their statement Advent International pointed that they think that the decision of the three-member structure of the Supreme Administrative Court is right and legal. That is why they expect that the five-member structure of the court will confirm it, because the Advisors' Committee decision to reject the contract with Viva Ventures is illegal. They accept the decision of the Administrative Court to appeal the court ruling as a normal legal act, which will not change much the process of finalizing the deal. Nevertheless they claim in their statement that any further delays of this deal may stop the positive development of BTC.

During the privatization of "Atomenergoremont" the Advisors Committee of the Privatization Agency performed several actions to sell the company to a previously selected buyer and violated the principles of the privatization law. This is written in a protest of the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's from the end of the last week, with which the decision of the Advisors to sell 70% of the company to NEC was appealed.

A daily national paper announced that the Supreme Cassation Prosecutor's Office asked the Supreme Administrative Court to cancel the decision of the Advisors Committee of the Privatization Agency in which Bulgarian Electrical Company is approved as a buyer of Atomenergoremont. An appeal was sent in the last day in which decision was available for appeal. A week ago the company for repairs of nuclear equipment was sold to a consortium led by Bulgarian Electrical Company and Laser and Optical Technologies PLC for 15.6 BGL.

More than 15 Bulgarian and foreign companies will take part in a competition for acquiring 100% of the capital of the Diplomatic Estate Agency, more popular with the name BODC. The future owner must exceed the capacity of the public enterprise in order to buy it. According to the Privatization Agency the Diplomatic Estate Agency owns 116 m2 real estates, 78.3 million BGL fixed capital and revenue from activities around 11 million BGL.

The association "Open Code Alternative Business Solutions - OCABS" will mark its appearance in the public space with a press-conference at 11o'clock on 10th of July 2003 in the press-club BTA. OCABS is established by six software companies - Acsior, NDB, Bulgarian Internet Group, Noac, Biotronica и Linux Business Solutions - as an independent mutual association of physical and juridical entities for support of the open code alternative business solutions.

Kyocera Mita and NEC awarded Kontrax. 26% of the market of laser printers in Bulgaria belongs to the Japanese company and that is the reason for the Bulgarian distributor to receive one of the five prizes on the partners meeting in Marabeia, Spain on 18th to 20th of June. Meanwhile on a similar meeting of the distributors of NEC in the capital of Cyprus Nicosia, Kontrax received yet another prize for excellent financial results in the EMEA region.

A Bulgarian software company that possesses developed and integrated information decisions for company management celebrated its 10th anniversary. Considering the specialties of the different-sized companies Bora Systems has developed a number of different products in order to meet the needs of the small companies (product name - Pacioli), of the medium and big companies (product name - BORA System 2.7) and even of the big corporate structures (product name - BORA Enterprise System).

Borland reports 25% growth in Bulgaria. Ludvic Nevew, regional manager for EMEA of the leading manufacturer of research environments, presented their point of view in a special interview for Computerworld-Bulgaria newspaper.

S&T AG system integrator signed contracts with leading east European supplier of mobile communications. The company will bring in a new security technology and data storage decisions in Mobiltel in Bulgaria and Mobifon in Rumania. Meanwhile S&T is starting a new project for the Ministry of Finance in Ukraine. The system integrator is building a new additional database centre for Mobiltel. This database have to ensure uninterruptedness of the critical business processes in case of difficult situations in the main centre.

M-Tel, the first Bulgarian mobile operator has extended its advertising budget by 70% compared with the previous year. During the last full accounting period M-Tel has invested 20 009 000 BGL in newspaper and television campaigns, whereas for the previous year that sum amounted to 12 453 000 BGL. The figures are quite smaller for its main opponent Globul-15 767 000 for 2002 year against 9 982 000 for the year before.