Update July 2000: Bulgaria

1. Major changes:

With the Decree No.73 of the Council of Ministers, a new Co-ordination Council for Information Society at the Council of Ministers was established. The Minister of Transport and Communications Mr. Antoni Slavinski became Chairman of the Co-ordination Council. The index of names of the Co-ordination Council’s members will be specified by the respective state body and will be given in the next KPCO report. The e-mail address of Mr. Ivan Taushanov, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Transport and Communications is updated.

2. New entrants:

2.1 Government bodies

• Mrs. Totka Chernaeva, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Head of Department "Programmes and Projects";
• Mrs. Sonia Spasova, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Senior Expert, Department "Programmes and Projects".
• Mrs. Chernaeva and Mrs. Spasova were the main organisers of Information Days on the Programme "Information Society Technologies".

2.2 Private companies and non-governmental organisations

Top Team Co. was responsible for the organisation of internet expo 2000. top Team Co. is a private held company founded in 1991. Top Team Co. publishes BYTE Bulgaria and WEB.BG - IT magazines and IT related newspapers- Computer News and Internet, designed to help professionals in their work and to inform them about new technologies, trends and products. Top Team Co. provides Internet services such as: design and hosting of www pages, e-commerce applications and web-ready information systems. The company offers business and IT consulting services on the local market and is a host and developer for the web.bg server.

Orbitel Ltd. was the organiser of BYTE INTERNET EXPO and telecomex 2000. The main aim of Orbitel Ltd. is to transform the potential of the local networks into effective Internet based solutions. Orbitel Ltd. was established in 1997 as 100% private Bulgarian company. At the end of 1999 it became a public company with 40% foreign participation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Europe Capital Management (ECM).

2.3 The following key persons and contact organisations have been also added in the database:

• Raina Pavlova, Technical University – Sofia;
• Raya Staikova, Centre of Science and History of Sciences, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences;
• Milena Stajkova, Bulgarian National Bank;
• Maria Malinova, Bulgarian National Bank;
• Ivan Strandjev, Business Agency PLC;
• Boyko Rangelov, Geophysical Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences;
• Ivan Atanassov, Foundation – Institute for Sustainable Development;
• Tatyana Kozeva, South-West University, Blagoevgrad;
• Ilya Gyudzhenov, South-West University, Blagoevgrad
• Georgie Apostolov, South-West University, Blagoevgrad;
• Kamen Velev, University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy;
• Georgi Peev, University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy;
• Vladimir Dimchev, TEAM’54, Stara Zagora.

They are contact persons or project leaders for new projects added in the database.