site.bta PM Distributes His Deputies' Portfolios

PM Distributes His Deputies'  Portfolios

Sofia, January 31 (BTA) - Prime Minister Ognyan Gerdjikov distributed the portfolios of his deputies, the government press office said Tuesday. The Prime Minister personally will coordinate the work of the Ministries of Finance and of Foreign Affairs, the Intelligence Agency and the E-government Agency, as well as the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad.

Deputy Prime Minister for Social Policy and Health Care Ilko Semerdjiev is put in charge of coordinating the bodies of the executive government branch in the area of competence of the Ministries of Economy, Energy, Agriculture and Food, Environment and Water, Labour and Social Policy, Education and Science, Youth and Sport, Culture and Tourism. He will oversee the state agencies for metrological and technical surveillance, for child protection, for commodity exchanges and wholesale markets, the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Agency, the Nuclear Regulation Agency, the National Agency for Assessment and Accreditation, the National Agency for Vocational Education and Training, the Communications Regulation Commission, the National Compensatory Housing Fund and the Patent Office.

The portfolio of Deputy Prime Minister for Internal Order and Security, and for Defence, Stefan Yanev, will be in charge of the area of competence of the Ministries of the Interior, of Justice, of Regional Development, of Transport, of Information Technologies and Communications. He will oversee the work of the National Security Agency, The State Agency for Technical Operations, the National Archives, the State Reserve and Wartime Stock, the Refugees Agency, the State Commission for Security of Information and the Centre for Preventing and Countering Corruption and Organized Crime.

The first weekly meeting of the government is scheduled for next week.

The Prime Minister's decision to change the schedule of government meetings was called for by the need for the ministers to focus on the audits at their ministries and the time they need to coordinate bills prepared by the previous government, said the government press office.