The efforts of the CSD Economic Program in 1994 were
focused on the following major projects:
1. Privatization and Private Sector Development in
Bulgaria;
2. Investigating the Efficiency of West European
Consulting Firms Working for East European Companies;
3. Migration: European Integration and the Labor
Force Brain Drain;
4. Reform Round Table;
5. Debt Conversion: Guidelines for Bulgaria;
6. Bulgarian-American Economic Cooperation
Forum.
The Economic Program activities in 1996 were
facilitated by the cumulative effects of the work carried out in
the prior five years у the acquired experience, the network of
established contacts and CSD’s position as an institution committed
to promoting economic reforms and privatization. This allowed CSD
to continue placing a strong emphasis on result oriented
initiatives. Work was concentrated on the following key issues:
I. Privatization and Private Sector Development in
Bulgaria
This project achieved several important practical
results in 1994. CSD enlisted the support of a number of key
figures in privatization as contributors, discussion participants
and recipients of the project results. These included the Deputy
Prime Minister, heads of departments at the Privatization Agency,
the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Privatization Agency,
heads of privatization departments of the branch ministries,
Members of Parliament from all parliamentary groups, the Head of
the Privatization Commission at the National Assembly, and
privatization advisors at the Council of Ministers.
Research activities of the project enabled CSD to be
a major participant in the discussion of privatization and economic
reform issues through the elaboration and promotion of proactive
standpoints. Thus, CSD emerged as one of the principal independent
institutions in Bulgaria professionally engaged in privatization
studies.
In addition, CSD maintained close contacts with
different news media and succeeded in obtaining wide coverage of
the project activities, thereby encouraging broad public discussion
of privatization issues.
These results were made possible through a wide
variety of activities:
Institutional Contacts and Networking
The Economic Program provided opportunities for
contacts and the exchange of views and
Information between officials and experts involved
in privatization issues. It also provided practical assistance to
the state administration in the privatization process and to
municipal authorities in the implementation of the Privatization
Law.
The specific activities through which the Economic
Program achieved this are described in greater detail below.
Municipal Privatization in the Bansko
Municipality
The project attained practical results including
elaboration of a Regional Development Program, development of a
Municipal Privatization Program, and conclusion of privatization
transactions. The Economic Program prepared and carried out an
opinion poll on privatization and regional development in Bansko.
Finally, the Program prepared the Regulations of the Private and
Investment Fund for the Bansko municipality.
Mass Privatization Seminar
This seminar, held in February 1994, was attended by
senior executives and representatives of key institutions in
privatization, including deputy ministers, advisors at the Council
of Ministers, heads of departments at the Privatization Agency and
various ministries, representatives of investment funds in
Bulgaria, and researchers. One of the main topics of the seminar
discussions was the results of a national sample survey on public
attitudes towards mass privatization. Discussions led to the
elaboration of specific recommendations which were forwarded to key
decision-makers.
Investment Funds: Economic, Institutional and Legal
Framework Seminar
The seminar, held in March 1994, was designed to
suggest various means for raising and utilizing municipal financial
resources for advancing privatization and regional development in
nine municipalities in different parts of the country. Another
objective of the seminar was to bring together representatives of
the existing investment funds and provide opportunities for the
exchange of experience. Several forms of interaction between the
municipalities and the private investment funds were suggested,
including participation in the flotation of investment funds,
confidential management of financial means, issuance of securities
and guaranteeing the flotation, intermediation in privatization
transactions, real estate transactions, swap operations and futures
deals with local resources.
Bad Debts: Nine Months after the Passage of the
Settlement of Non-Performing Loans (Extended up to 31 December
1990) Act Seminar
This seminar brought together representatives of all
the institutions involved in the adoption and implementation of the
Privatization Law, including the National Assembly, the Council of
Ministers, the Bulgarian National Bank, the Ministry of Finance,
the Privatization Agency, and several commercial banks.
The Economic Program, with the support of other CSD
programs, formed several working groups which brought together
experts from CSD and the responsible ministries, and government
agencies. The following documents were prepared as a result of the
seminar and working group meetings:
a) Bylaws of the Funds:
- Mutual Fund pursuant to Article 8 of the Law on Transformation
and Privatization of State-Owned and Municipal Enterprises. Adopted
by Council of Ministers Decree No. 68/01.09.1994;
- Investment and Privatization Fund with the Ministry of
Agriculture pursuant to Council of Ministers Decree No.
248/02.11.1994;
- Municipal Privatization Fund - Bansko, approved in principle at
a municipal council meeting on December 20, 1994.
b) Explanatory Notes to the Regulations for
Organization and Operation of the following Funds:
Mutual Fund
Investment and Privatization Fund with the Ministry
of Agriculture
Municipal Privatization Fund
Research Activities
The Economic Program conducted the following
surveys:
Case
Studies on Post-Privatization Behavior of Enterprises
The survey included six case studies of privatized
enterprises. The main objective was to examine the dynamics of
post-privatization behavior and to provide recommendations to
decision-makers.
Public Attitudes towards Mass Privatization
(National Sample Survey, January 1994).
The survey estimated the degree of public acceptance
of the government's mass privatization project and provided
analysis and suggestions to make the project more appealing to
Bulgarian citizens and more relevant to the financial potential of
different socioeconomic groups.
Public Attitudes towards Mass Privatization
(National Sample Survey, April 1994).
A block of questions requested by the Center for
Mass Privatization at the Council of Ministers was included in the
National Media Omnibus of CSD. The survey results were based on a
representative sample of 1,019 respondents.
Dissemination of Information
Privatization and Foreign Investment Monitor
This bi-weekly press digest in Bulgarian has been
published by CSD since 1992. In 1994 it was regularly distributed
among 350 key politicians, experts, researchers, members of the
Economic, Budget and Legislative Committees of the National
Assembly, cabinet ministers and members of other government
agencies, non-parliamentary political parties, Bulgarian and
foreign consultant firms, embassies, trade unions, associations and
employers' organizations. Since December 1993, the Monitor has also
included a statistical supplement containing information on
privatization and foreign investments for the two weeks under
review.
The Economic Program maintained regular contacts
with "Plus Minus", the most popular program on economic issues on
Channel One of the Bulgarian National Television, the Horizont and
Hristo Botev national radio programs, and private radio stations in
Sofia, Varna, and Plovdiv. Contacts were also maintained with the
major independent daily newspapers, such as Standart News, Pari and
Kontinent.
II. Investigating the Efficiency of West European
Consulting Firms Working for East
European Companies
The second major project of the Economic Program
aimed at providing a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the
efficiency of western consulting firms advising East European
companies. The project was supported by the European Union and was
carried out by research teams from eight European countries
including Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, the Czech
Republic, Ireland and Bulgaria.
Project activities included:
- conducting an in-depth survey of eight enterprises that had used
the services of western consulting firms; - gathering information
(via interviews) from 85 enterprises; - interviewing managers of
western consulting firms which had advised Bulgarian companies; -
organizing a seminar on "Efficiency of West European Consulting
Firms Advising East European Companies". The seminar took place at
CSD on November 9 and 10, 1994. It was chaired by Dr. Gabor Hovany
from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Professor Marek Belka from
the Warsaw Institute of Economics and Dr. Daniela Bobeva from CSD;
- preparing an analytical report and working papers.
III. Migration - Europe's Integration and the Labour
Force Brain Drain
The third major focus of CSD Economic Program was a
two-year international research project to examine the brain drain
from Bulgaria, with a view of identifying the scientific and
economic consequences from the migration of scientists and experts.
This project, supported by the European Union, involves 15 research
teams from eleven Central and East European countries including
Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Romania, Slovenia, Albania and Bulgaria. CSD coordinates
the work of the research teams.
To accomplish the first-year project objectives, the
Economic Program:
- examined the real migration of Bulgarian scientists and experts
between 1989 and 1995; - evaluated professional skills and
performance, professional motivation, internal mobility and
potential for emigration of Bulgarian scientists and experts to
other countries; - prepared statistical analyses and over 40
international comparative tables (for all participating countries)
in six blocks, including comprehensive information on the
population, economy; - unemployment, migration, science (structure,
employment, funding and development); - developed and coordinated
the project research strategy; - developed and coordinated with the
participating countries the selection of the instruments for
gathering empirical information; - conducted four pilot surveys and
organized a focus group. The pilot surveys included unemployed
scientists, scientists employed in the private sector, real
migrants and potential migrants among undergraduates and graduate
students of the Technical University. The program carried out a
total of 127 interviews and organized a focus group of unemployed
scientists; - prepared statistical analysis including data for
Bulgaria and available data for all of the countries participating
in the project; - organized a working meeting of the international
team in Sofia in December 1994. This meeting was attended by three
representatives from the European Union and 13 coordinators from 10
country teams participating in the project.
IV. Reform Round Table
The fourth major focus of the Economic Program was
its participation in the Reform Round Table. Since its beginning in
October 1991, the major objective of the Reform Round Table has
been to regularly exchange information among East European
countries on the crucial macro- and microeconomic issues raised by
the economic and legal reforms taking place in these countries. The
principal aim of the project is to disseminate documents to
experts, policy-makers and the general public. The topics for these
documents are selected in accordance with the economic priorities
of each country and are reconsidered and adjusted annually on the
basis of the reform measures underway in each country.
The following Reform Round Table papers were
prepared in 1994:
Ivan Tabakov, The Reform in the Bulgarian Banking
System
Vesselin Passev, Price Reform and Pricing Policy in
the Transition to Market Economy
Yordan Hristoskov, Unemployment and Labour Market in
Bulgaria
Ivo Kovachev, Privatization in Bulgaria: A
Revolution that Never Happened, an Evolution that is Sweeping
Everything Around
Ivan Angelov, Nature and Main Trends of Development
of the New Agricultural Cooperatives in Bulgaria
Stefan Ivanov, Financing Private Enterprises in
Bulgaria
A collection of papers (in Bulgarian) on tax reform
issues in Latvia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovenia
has also been prepared. This collection was published in 1995.
CSD's main concern in preparing this publication has been the
expected impact it would produce on policy-making and legislation
in the field of tax reform.
V. Debt Conversion: Guidelines for Bulgaria
Another project of the Economic Program was the
preparation of debt conversion guidelines for Bulgaria. The project
was coordinated by Dr. Mariana Todorova, a leading Bulgarian
expert, currently with the Economic Development Institute of the
World Bank. The main objective of this project was to develop a
fully-fledged debt conversion program in order to assist Bulgarian
authorities in devising the arrangements needed for Debt-Equity
Swaps (DES) by combining the existing legal framework for
privatization with the new regulatory framework, institutional and
swap mechanisms.
The main activities carried out within this project
were:
- a preliminary study of the initial conditions and
probable macro- and microeconomic implications resulting from the
application of DES. A paper entitled "Debt-Equity Swaps in the Context of
Privatization: The Case of Bulgaria", prepared by Sophia
Kassidova, member of the project team, focused on these issues and
argued that there are opportunities for combining DES schemes with
privatization efforts in Bulgaria;
- a comparative analysis of the major successfully
applied debt conversion models was prepared by the project
coordinator, Dr. Mariana Todorova. The paper outlined the pros and
cons of the models employed by other countries and the relevance of
these models to the Bulgarian pattern;
- a workshop on Economic Reform and Debt Conversion
in Bulgaria was held at CSD in October 1994. This workshop was the
first official presentation of the project before representatives
of relevant government agencies and the media. The workshop
received wide coverage on radio and TV and in specialized
newspapers;
- a visit by Dr. Francisco Garces, Foreign Advisor
to the project, and former Chief Administrator of the External Debt
Conversion Commission in Chile. Dr. Garces visited CSD in October
1994 and met with legal experts, key government officials from the
Bulgarian National Bank, the Privatization Agency, the Foreign
Investment Commission, and representatives of the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank. During the discussions, and with
the help of Mr. Garces' recommendations, a consensus was reached on
the basic elements of the Bulgarian debt conversion program.
VI. Bulgarian-American Economic Cooperation
Forum
This one-day forum was held on December 7, 1994. The
Forum brought together 42 representatives of American and Bulgarian
institutions involved in promoting bilateral trade and investment.
It was organized at the initiative of the Bulgarian Ambassador to
the United States, Mrs. Snezhana Botousharova, with support from
the Open Society Fund, Sofia. The objective was two-fold:
- to identify those factors that currently constrain
American investment in Bulgaria and hinder trade expansion;
and,
- to define a framework of actions to be undertaken
by the Bulgarian and American institutions to promote expanded
bilateral economic cooperation. Particular attention was paid to
the legal framework of foreign investment in Bulgaria.
The Forum was chaired consecutively by Mrs.
Botousharova, and Mr. William Montgomery, US Ambassador to
Bulgaria. It was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the
Minister and Deputy Ministers of Trade, Members of Parliament, key
government officials, and representatives of American companies
investing in Bulgaria.
The output of the forum was a recommendation paper
suggesting ways to facilitate expansion of bilateral trade and
investment. The paper was presented to the governments of the US
and Bulgaria on the occasion of the US-Bulgarian summit in February
1995.
International Business Club (IBC)
BC is a joint initiative of CSD and the Ministry of
Trade. It was formally inaugurated on June 17, 1993 by Mr. Valentin
Karabashev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, in the
presence of ambassadors, diplomats and trade envoys to Bulgaria,
along with bankers, and managers of local and international
companies. The principal objective of IBC is to encourage business
contacts, popularize business opportunities in Bulgaria, and
promote the development of trade and foreign investment.
IBC organizes regular breakfast meetings to which it
invites prominent figures from the government, financial
institutions, and private businesses as guest speakers.
The guest speakers and topics of IBC meetings in
1994 were:
Mr. Belo Belov, General Manager of Chimimport PLC:
"The Privatization of Chimimport";
Mr. Stanislav Daskalov, Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Republic of Bulgaria: "Bulgaria's Integration in the
International Economic Structures";
Dr. Krastyu Mirski, Vice Chairman of the Committee
of Posts and Telecommunications (CPT), and Mr. Antoni Slavinski,
Vice President of the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC):
"The Reform in Bulgarian Telecommunications";
H.E. Mr. Buheita Fujiwara, Ambassador of Japan to
the Republic of Bulgaria: "Japan-Bulgaria Trade and Economic
Relations";
Mr. Alexander Yordanov, Chairman of the National
Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria:
"Legislative Work of the National Assembly in the
Economic Reform Field";
Mr. Kiril Tsotchev, Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Trade: "Bulgaria's Foreign Trade Policy";
Dr. Dimiter Loudjev, Former Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Defense: "The Challenges of the Economic Reform in
Bulgaria";
Mr. Ivan Stancioff, Minister of Foreign Affairs of
the Republic of Bulgaria: "Foreign Policy and the Economic
Development of Bulgaria".
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