Norway to Grant EUR 126.6 M to Bulgaria under Bilateral, EEA Mechanisms

Bulgaria will be granted EUR 126.6 M for the next five-year period under bilateral and multilateral European Economic Area (EEA) financial mechanisms.

This emerged after political consultations between Bulgaria and Norway at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers, which took place in Sofia on Monday, the ministry's press service reports.

The Bulgarian delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Rumen Aleksandrov, while Ingvild Stub, State Secretary on European matters, led the Norwegian representation.

The talks focused over a broad set of issues - the development of bilateral relations, the situation in Ukraine, the establishment of the European Energy Union.

Other topics of discussion included ensuring the energy security of Europe, security issues, fight against terrorism and migration.

Special attention was devoted to the support demonstrated by Norway for Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen Area.

The two countries expressed their satisfaction with the fruitful cooperation under the multilateral Financial Mechanism (FM) of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the bilateral Norwegian programme for coopeation, economic growth and sustainable development in Bulgaria.

The two delegations discussed possibilities for the successful completion of the negotiations for the next five-year period of the financial mechanisms of EEA and Norway.

The funds will be allocated for 15 programmes in priority sectors - environmental protection, renewable energy resources, restoration of natural and cultural heritage, judiciary and internal affairs, support for the development of the NGO sector.