Bulgarian authorities plan to invest in tourism projects in “beautiful and lesser-known places around the country” and build them up to their former splendor and prominence. The first areas to benefit from the initiative are the town of Trun in western Bulgaria, the village of Sitovo near Plovdiv and Goleshevo …

New financial leasing contracts in Bulgaria continued to dwindle in the final quarter of the year, totalling 936 million leva, down 15% from the three months before, showed central bank data. As the financial meltdown began to make its way into the Bulgarian economy, the sector started to lose momentum …

Kosovo and Austria have signed a memorandum of understanding pledging to foster closer economic cooperation. The main focus of the deal will be the intensification of trade, cooperation in private sector economy, promotion of direct investments, export promotion and brain and technological transfers. Signed by Kosovo’s Minister of Trade and …

Bulgaria’s economy grew by six per cent in 2008 to 66.1 billion leva, the country’s National Statistics Institute, NSI, said in a flash estimate, but the growth rate shrank drastically in the last quarter of the year. Fourth-quarter gross domestic product, GDP, growth was 3.6 per cent, according to the …

As Kosovo’s Albanian majority prepares to celebrate one year from its declaration of independence from Serbia on February 17, Serbia’s President Boris Tadic said Kosovo was not a state, and Serbia would never see it as anything but its southern province. “Serbia will never recognize Kosovo’s independence and, respecting international …

Kosovo has good reason to be proud of its achievements in its first year of independence, President Fatmir Sejdiu said ahead of the Feb 17 anniversary of Kosovo’s secession from Serbia, noting that rather than destabilise the Balkans, the declaration of independence had opened doors for progress. “During its first …

Albania’s constitutional court suspended on Monday a controversial “clean hands” lustration law targeting former officials of the communist regime, which critics say could be used for political revenge attacks by the government. With seven votes in favor and two against, the judicial panel voted to defer the effects of the …

When Kosovo celebrates one year of independence on February 17, it should remember it has plenty of work ahead, said Peter Feith, International Civilian Office head and European Union Special Representative in Kosovo He expressed his “congratulations for all the citizens of Kosovo”, noting that Kosovo’s leaders must focus on …

A proposal by the top Bosnian Serb leader for Bosnia and Herzegovina to be reconfigured as a “union of federal states” with further decentralization of its two entities has triggered a new round of verbal duels among the country’s Serb, Croat and Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) politicians. Over the past three …

Belgrade is due to start negotiations with the United Nations mission in Kosovo on Tuesday on the implementation of the UN’s six-point plan on Kosovo, which has been rejected by Kosovo Albanians, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic told a Serbian daily in an interview “Albanians are still saying that this …