Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov and Qatari PM Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thaniin Bulgaria on Friday, reports say.

Al Thani is to arrive to the Bulgarian capital on Thursday on the invitation of Borisov, while Erdogan’s short visit on Friday was announced yesterday.

The Bulgarian National Radio has cited Turkish sources saying that the three Prime Ministers will hold a joint meeting on Friday. They are expected to focus on trade,energy and transport issues, as well as specific projects and investments.

Borisov and Erdogan are expected to discuss the construction of a natural gas interconnection pipeline between Bulgaria and Turkey, which is to allow the former to receive gas supplies from Azerbaijan.

An agreement for Qatari investments of USD 100 M that was discussed during Borisov mid-March to Qatar is also expected to be among the key topics.

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Bulgaria expects to see an approximately 20% increase in Russian tourists this year, according to the country’s Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Delyan Dobrev.

Dobrev pointed out that Russian tourists with Schengen visas can now visit Bulgaria, which would boost the Bulgarian tourism sector.

“We expect a significant growth, especially on the Russian market,” the Minister said.

Tourism is likely the sole economic sector in Bulgaria that is growing in times of crisis, Dobrev observed.

“Over the past several years, we have seen growths between 5% and 8%. I hope we would have a similar growth this year,” Dobrev declared in the city of Veliko Tranovo, when the international Cultural Tourism fair is taking place.

On Saturday, the Economy Minister also stated that Bulgaria will back the South Gas Corridor project. He explained that the project would bring about both higherenergy safety and diversification.

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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is boosting its support for energy efficiency projects in Bulgaria with a new EUR 10 M loan to the Bulgarian Energetics and Energy Savings Fund (FEEI), the bank said in a statement.

FEEI is the country’s first private fund supporting energy-saving measures in publicly-owned buildings.

The bank’s loan will be used to develop energy performance-based projects, attracting both financing and expertise from the private sector by engaging Energy Service Companies (ESCOs).

Energy Performance Contracts will be implemented primarily by Enemona, a Bulgarian engineering and construction company specializing in energy efficiency improvements across a wide range of public buildings, including schools, kindergartens, hospitals and administrative offices.

Through this loan, FEEI will provide the resources and skills needed to finance energy-saving initiatives for its clients, mainly Bulgarian municipalities and state-owned companies, at a time when local funding remains scarce.

“The Fund will support sustainable energy projects based on energy performance contracts. This scheme can generate energy efficiency investments that municipalities operating under tight budgets would never be able to fund themselves. As a result, they can achieve improvements at no initial cost, while the investments are recovered from the obtained energy and cost savings,” said Daniel Berg, EBRD‘s Director for Bulgaria.

In Bulgaria, the government estimates that public building owners could save up to 50% of their annual energy bills by undertaking energy efficiency improvements.

The Fund is helping to realise this savings potential with a strong pipeline of projects to be implemented over the coming years. The projects will range from installing energy efficient public lighting and introducing combined heat and power generation plants to boiler updates and thermal insulation of walls and windows replacement in the municipal sector.

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