Agriculture Ministry

The existing moratorium on timber exports remains in place until the adoption of a set of amendments to the Forest Act, according to Bulgaria's Deputy Agriculture Minister Georgi Kostov.

The 3-month moratorium, which was introduced by Bulgaria's government so as to pave the way for the adoption of legal amendments targeting illegal logging, expired on Tuesday.

Rumen Porozhanov, CEO of Bulgaria's State Fund Agriculture, has described the completion of the 2007-2013 Rural Development Program as a real challenge.

In a Sunday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio he made clear that projects would be received by the SFA Paying Agency by October 15.

He made clear that the SFA would then have three months to make the payments.

Bulgarian businesses are expected to save BGN 144.5 M a year as a result of anti-red tape measures envisaged in the 3rd action plan for administrative burden reduction by 30% by end-2017.

The action plan was adopted by the Bulgarian government on Wednesday.

Plamen Mollov, Executive Director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA), has been dismissed at the proposal of Agriculture Minister Desislava Taneva.

Mollov was removed from office on Friday by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Ministers disagree over what to do to decrease Turkey?s skyrocketing potato prices, with Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci signaling a possible license for potato imports and Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker saying such moves will harm local producers.

Serbia "to follow EU's decision" on potential cancerogen

BELGRADE -- Serbia will "support" any decision made by the EU regarding trade in plant protection products containing the ingredient glyphosate.

The material is believed to be a human cancerogen.

Access to the websites of Bulgaria's government and the President's office has been restored on Wednesday evening following a short outage, a search by Novinite has shown.

The reason or the reasons for the disruption that started around 6.30 p.m. (1530 GMT) and  lasted about half an hour, were not immediately clear.  

For the third time in less than a month, Bulgarian timber companies will stage a protest against the 3-month moratorium on exports.

Industry representatives insist that despite the promise of MPs to revoke the ban, the authorities are refusing to engage in dialogue with them, according to reports of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Bulgaria's food industry has suffered an estimated BGN 12 M (EUR 6 M) in damages as a result of Russia's ban on food imports from the EU, Agriculture Minister Desislava Taneva has said.

Beekeepers from all over the country are staging a nationwide protest in front of the Agriculture Ministry headquarters in Sofia on Friday.