Update November 2000: Bulgaria

1. Society wide promotional and awareness context

The major event during the last quarter in Bulgaria was the International Technical Fair Autumn 2000 in Plovdiv. Information Society Technologies have become one of the main features of the traditional international fair in Plovdiv. Since the manufacturing and trade activities in IST remain one of the fastest developing sectors, a great number of IST companies from many countries exhibit their products there. A specialised salon "Infotech" and seminar on Internet services were held.

On the 13^th June 2000, the Co-ordination Council on IS at the Council of Ministers has adopted an actualised Programme for IS development during 2000. The Council decided also to establish a Centre for Support of IS.

The Internet open discussion on the Government Programme for economic and social development of the country,"Bulgaria 2001", has continued. The initiative called "Dialogue 2001" is fully based on an Internet platform and has invoked considerable interest.

Other important promotional activities included the Second Bulgarian Bank Forum on "Information technologies in the threshold of the 21^st century" and the Bulgarian-Swedish Conference on "Challenges before IS".

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