Bulgaria negotiates CHF 76 million in funding under the Swiss-Bulgarian Cooperation Programme

Bulgaria has negotiated the full amount of financial resource available under the Swiss-Bulgarian Cooperation Programme, or CHF 76 million, provided by the Swiss Confederation to reduce economic and social disparities within the enlarged European Union.

A delegation of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs led by Hugo Bruggmann, Head of the Enlargement Contribution/Cohesion Section, arrived on a visit to Bulgaria. Delegation members met with Deputy Prime Minister of European Funds and Economic Policy Tomislav Donchev. Together with Minister of Environment and Water Ivelina Vassileva,  Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova and Ambassador of Switzerland to Bulgaria H.E. Denis Knobel, they introduced the results achieved under the programme.

“When we speak of our partnership with Switzerland, we speak not only of transfer of money, but also of exchange of experience”, Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said, pointing out that bilateral instruments, such as the Bulgarian-Swiss Cooperation Programme, are extremely important to Bulgaria because they allow the country to tackle problems for the solution of which European funding is not available yet.

“Our goals in implementing the projects are the permanent disposal of obsolete pesticides, reducing the number of storage facilities. This will contribute to reducing the risk of environment pollution.  The implementation of the project for hazardous waste will significantly reduce the accumulation of such waste by households.  This will lead to reducing the health risks for the population of the country,“ Minister of Environment and Water Ivelina Vassileva said. The Ministry of Environment and Water implements the following projects: ”Environmentally sound disposal of obsolete pesticides and other crop protection products” with a total budget of CHF 23,445,998  and “Research and development of pilot models for collection and temporary storage of hazardous waste” with a total budget of CHF 8,823,267.

“The sustainable development of Sofia is of utmost importance and this is a long term priority in our work. Therefore, we take advantage of every opportunity to finance projects with this objective”,  Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova said. Sofia Municipality implements project “Modern Trams for Sofia” with a total budget of CHF 3,000,000. The programme aims to improve the efficiency of public transport in the capital. The project envisions the provision of 28 completely renovated trams from the Swiss city of Basel, which will improve citizens' access to public transport and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.