site.btaPresident Radev Comments Risk Factors Facing Bulgarian Air Force, Insurance Sector

Sofia, August 23 (BTA) - "The Bulgarian Air Force remains exposed to risk factors," Bulgarian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Rumen Radev commented to journalists on Thursday.

Among the risk factors, the head of State listed the insufficient number of aircraft, the insufficient resources for training and, hence, the low number of flight hours which, in his words, heightens the risk of potential aviation accidents. "The point is not just to fly, more technologies should already be available to enable us to be interoperable and safely and effectively accomplish the missions together with our allies," the President commented.

He talked to the media at the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Bulgarian military transport aviation and the day of the 16th Transport Aviation Group at the Vrazhdebna Air Base (near Sofia Airport).

"The problems with Olympic and the Commercial Register go far deeper than we are told," Radev commented too. He does not think that a technical failure is involved - "it is rather a matter of lack of transparency and accountability, without which an effective administration is impossible."

"At a time when the Bulgarian Government commits itself in writing to our European partners and the European institutions to clear conditions for the preparation to adopt the Exchange Rate Mechanism, to enhanced transparency and counter-corruption measures, to effective management of State-owned enterprises, the Commercial Register crashes and wreaks havoc in business, and a scandal erupts in the insurance sector, which shows that supervision is practically non-existing," the President pointed out.

"It is not by accident that all sorts of new criteria and mechanisms are being invented to keep Bulgaria under constant controls and checks. Efforts must be made to gain trust," Radev said.