Lozana Vasileva Named State Fund Agriculture Executive Director

Lozana Vasileva has been appointed executive director of State Fund Agriculture (SFA), replacing Atanas Dobrev, BGNES reported on Friday.

Ms Vasileva has been with SFA for a long time, including head of SFA’s regional directorate in Pazardzhik region, the media outlet said.

Atanas Dobrev was appointed SFA executive director on 14 July by then Agriculture Minister Dimitar Grekov following the dismissal of the former SFA chief Miroslav Nikolov and his deputy Violeta Alexandrova over alleged violations of funding procedures including delays to projects under the EU’s Operational Programme Rural Development.

The SFA is the government agency in charge of providing financial support from EU funds to Bulgaria’s agriculture sector by four instruments – direct payments with additional national payments, agricultural market mechanisms support, the Rural Development Programme and the Fisheries Programme.