Bilateral Programme Budget

Each year, the Embassy has a small amount of money available for us to use on projects that directly help us achieve our objectives.  

In financial year 2008-2009 we have

• co-operated with Bulgarian National Television to produce a documentary on the UK's approach to climate change and how we are working hard to combat climate change.  This documentary was broadcast on 28th June and helped increase the UK's profile on climate change within Bulgaria, showing how we are taking the lead both internationally and at home and highlighting the efforts that need to be made in Bulgaria.  

• supported the development of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology within Europe by assisting with the visit by 5 Bulgarian officials, from the Ministry of Economy and Energy, Ministry of Environment, ME II Mines and Parliament, to the UK for a presentation on the UK's pilot CCS project tender.    The visit, which included calls on the UK’s Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and UK industry, enabled us to set out the UK's position on the EU CCS Directive, explain the UK's legal, institutional and business framework and to promote the UK as a leader in CCS technology and policies.  Feedback from the Bulgarian participants was extremely positive and the visit has stimulated the debate on Bulgaria's continued commitment on CCS-readiness and for piloting of one of the 12 EU CCS projects by 2014.

• co-ordinated discussions between the Bulgarian and UK Ministries of Health on mutual recognition of medical qualifications.  This helped the UK and Bulgarian Health Authorities to resolve the main issues on Mutual Recognition of medical qualifications that were preventing the UK from recognising certain Bulgarian qualifications. Discussions were also held on  emergency healthcare in the UK, EU Health issues and improving bilateral contacts.

• supported a project with ECOFYS and the Bulgarian Industrial Association, aimed at changing the perspectives of Bulgarian business towards climate change - from viewing it as a threat to looking at it as an opportunity.   Through this project we are hoping to promote innovation and foster clean and competitive companies.  Towards the end of March 2009, the best business idea to promote a green technology or product conceived during the project will receive an award in the form of technical assistance to put the idea into practice.

• assisted the Bulgarian National Audit Office to strengthen their ability to carry out effective audits of EU funds within Bulgaria through two seminars, organised by the UK National Audit Office.

• funded a conference on probation called  'Sharing Experiences in Capacity Building', organised by the Bulgarian Justice Ministry, which targeted East European probation experts, who have experience either as beneficiaries or deliverers of probation services within European countries. The conference helped Bulgarian and UK experts share their experiences, and learn from others within the region.  Over the last 5 years, the UK has extensively helped Bulgaria establish a probation system as part of their judicial reform programme.

In March 2009 we supported the official campaign Earth Hour 2009 - a global initiative by the WWF, which aims to send a message to world leaders in the run-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 that we need a global commitment to actions that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The campaign takes place under the patronage of the Europe Minister Gergana Grancharova and the British Ambassador, Steve Williams, is its Ambassador. The British Embassy also supported two initiatives to mark the Earth Hour - an open air concert in front of the Bulgarian National Theatre at 20.30 on 28 March and a free showing of a documentary on climate change in the House of the Cinema at 18.00 on 27 March.

In financial year 2009-2010 we plan to:

• fund a project on entrepreneurship aiming to promote business growth in implementation of the Lisbon agenda.
• tender a research on the impact of reducing of funding under Pillar One of the Common Agricultural Policy on Bulgarian farmers.