site.btaDeputy PM Donchev: Government's Task Is to Try to Heal Open Wounds in Society

The government's task is to try to heal the open wounds in society, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Innovation and Growth Tomislav Donchev said at the Council of Ministers in a report on the implementation of the governance programme. The report was made by Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov and the three Deputy Prime Ministers: Tomislav Donchev, Atanas Zafirov and Grozdan Karadjov.

"Bulgaria has spent four years in an almost permanent political crisis and abandonment in practically all sectors. Worse than this crisis is the division in society and the accumulated distrust towards the institutions," Donchev noted.

He pointed out that the government has the ambition to modernize the country's armed forces, and this should be done through tapping the potential of Bulgarian science and industry. "By the middle of the year, I expect the first tenders to be announced for three types of drones to be developed and produced here for the Ministry of Defence," the Deputy PM said.

The potential of Bulgarian tourism to advertise itself on the world's most popular channels is an effort in the right direction and will soon bear fruit. The efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food to modernize the land reclamation fund will yield positive results in the crop production sector. Efforts are also being made to modernize hail suppression, and 25 new locations for missile sites have been identified.

According to him, the Ministry of Education and Science is focusing on a long-awaited reform with an emphasis on mathematics and science because the Bulgarian economy is in desperate need of engineers and skilled workers. Work is also underway to integrate digital platforms into education and introduce electronic textbooks, as well as create artificial intelligence labs.

Active work is being done to discover own oil and gas resources in the Black Sea in the Khan Asparuh and Khan Tervel blocks. The construction of the Vertical Gas Corridor, which is expected to allow more intensive trade in natural gas, has started, Tomislav Donchev reported.

The Electricity System Operator (ESO) and the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) are financing renewable energy projects and creating the largest energy community in the country, which will ensure lower costs for electricity consumers.

The Ministry of Energy has launched the “National infrastructure for storage of renewable energy” (RESTORE) procedure of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. 

The government has supported the business sector with BGN 210 million, which will lead to economic growth by the end of the year.

“Our focus is also on small and medium-sized enterprises, and we pay special attention to research centres. There are laboratories with unique equipment where contracts with a total value of BGN 183 million are being implemented,” Donchev reported. He added that the government presented the extension of the Bulgarian supercomputer Discoverer with new capabilities, and this country won a project for a completely new computer worth EUR 90 million, which will be implemented in 2026.