SOFIA, BULGARIA - (October 7, 2002) The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) announces a grant ceremony to be held Wednesday, October 9, 2002, at 1 p.m. in the Council of Ministers Building in Sofia. The two grants to be announced represent a continuation of USTDA's commitment to assist the Bulgarian Government in the development of its information technology (IT) sector. The U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Bulgaria, James W. Pardew; the Bulgarian Minister of State and Administration, Dimitar Kalchev; and the Bulgarian Minister of Finance, Milen Velchev, will participate in the ceremony.

The first USTDA grant of $330,860 provides funding to the Council of Ministers for a feasibility study on the development of a national IT network for the interconnection of government ministries in Bulgaria. The Council of Ministers is installing fiber-optic cables to build a high-speed computer network for the entire public sector of Bulgaria, to provide both voice and data communications. The study will address the continued build-out of this network.

A second grant in the amount of $169,752 will be awarded to the Ministry of Finance. The grant will provide technical assistance to accelerate the development of the IT components of the Ministry's Unified Revenue Agency (URA). The URA will collect all taxes and social contributions, transfer funds and information to other organizations, and administer tax revenues.

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency promotes American private sector participation in developing and middle-income countries, with special emphasis on economic sectors that represent significant U.S. export potential. By funding various forms of technical assistance, training grants, feasibility and specialized studies, conferences, orientation visits, and business workshops, USTDA helps American businesses compete for infrastructure projects in emerging markets. In addition, the agency promotes capacity building initiatives and supports U.S. government trade, economic policy and development objectives around the world.

The Council of Ministers Building is located at 1 Dondoukov Boulevard, Sofia. For more information on covering this event, please contact the Commercial Section at the U.S. Embassy in Sofia at 359.2.963.4062.

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