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Bulgaria to Set Up Cultural Heritage Investment Fund

Tuesday, Sep 18, 2012

Delyan Dobrev, Minister of Energy, Economy and Tourism, has said that Bulgaria will move to set up a fund for investments in historical and cultural heritage sites.

Dobrev opened Thursday a conference in Vidin on the economic future of the northwestern city.

Dobrev, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), explained that the money would come from concession fees collected by the state for the exploitation of its underground natural resources.

"The idea is to channel 20% of the concession fees into a fund for investments in the conservation and restoration of historical and cultural heritage. The proposal is backed by Deputy Prime Minister Simeon Djankov and we are very close to the stage of implementation," Bulgaria's Minister of Energy, Economy and Tourism stated.

He cited tourism as one of the options for encouraging the economic development of the northwestern region, adding that the implementation of the project would require a well-developed infrastructure and well-preserved cultural monuments.

Dobrev emphasized that the finalization of Danube Bridge 2 and the adjacent infrastructure would facilitate access to the local cultural monuments.

He went on to suggest that the Vidin municipality had to take advantage of the recent amendments to the Investment Promotion Act granting a range of benefits to Class A and Class B investors.

"The Vidin municipality should make the best of these amendments because its registered unemployment rate is above the country's average and the criteria for certifying projects as Class A, B and C have been substantially lowered compared to other cities," Dobrev made clear.

He further noted that the amendments to the Investment Promotion Act provided for an option for reimbursing employers' expenses for social security contributions for a period of two years for Class A and Class B investors in the region.

Dobrev pointed out that Class A and Class B investors in Bulgaria's northwestern region, the poorest region in the European Union, would be compensated for 17.4% of all labor force expenses for a period of two years.

Source: novinite.com