site.btaBulgaria, Türkiye Agree on Need to Increase Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Budget

Bulgaria and Türkiye have agreed on the need to negotiate up to a 15% increase in the budget of the bilateral cross-border cooperation programme, in order to fund an additional seven projects with a total value of EUR 3.5 million, Bulgaria’s Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW) announced on Thursday.

Five of the projects involve small and medium-sized enterprises and will support improvements in energy efficiency and the transition to a circular economy. The remaining two projects focus on investments in tourism and the preservation of cultural and historical heritage in the cross-border region.

The issue was discussed in Edirne during the fourth meeting of the Monitoring Committee for the Bulgaria–Türkiye Cross-Border Cooperation Programme for the 2021–2027 period.

Desislava Georgieva from the MRDPW, attending as a representative of the programme’s managing authority, stated that significant progress had been made despite the delayed start of the programming period at the EU level. “Resources are being directed toward key investments in tourism, competitiveness, and the green transition of enterprises in the cross-border region,” Georgieva said.

The meeting was chaired by Serdar Öztürk, Deputy Director General of the Directorate General for Financial Cooperation and Project Implementation at Türkiye’s Directorate for EU Affairs. Among the official guests were Margarita Grancharska-De Muynck from the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy of the European Commission and Radoslava Kafedzhiyska, Bulgaria’s Consul General in Türkiye.