site.btaBulgaria to Build One Million Dollar Greenhouse in Mongolia

Bulgaria to Build One Million Dollar Greenhouse in Mongolia

Ulan Bator, May 12 (BTA special correspondent Anelia Tsvetkova)
- Bulgaria will build a vegetable greenhouse in Mongolia in a
one million US dollar project agreed at a bilateral business
forum in Ulan Bator on Tuesday. The forum was opened by
Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Mongolian Prime
Minister Chimed Saikhanbileg and was attended by 25 business
executives from Bulgaria and representatives of over 60
Mongolian companies.

Plevneliev was completing an official visit to the Central Asian
country which began on Sunday.

The future greenhouse will be a pilot project and will be built
entirely on a Bulgarian technology. The necessary funding has
already been secured by Mongolia as part of a settlement of the
country's debt to Bulgaria. Bulgarian cucumbers, tomatoes and
peppers will be grown in the greenhouse.

The Mongolian side showed interest in a Bulgarian automated
system for control of animal farmer subsidies and in Bulgarian
expertise about establishing a common standard for milk and
dairy products - something which Bulgaria has accomplished in
aligning its practices with EU standards, Plevneliev said.
Bulgaria's cooperation with Mongolia in the milk sector will be
discussed when the Mongolian minister of agriculture visits
Bulgaria in September.

Opportunities for bilateral cooperation also exist in the field
of information and communication technology, pharmaceuticals,
energy (including renewable energy sources), mining, defence and
infrastructure.

A Bulgarian company has begun to implement a pilot project for
building a smart transport control system in Mongolia. The
Mongolian side is further interested in Bulgarian solutions for
text-message parking, integrated public transport, smart traffic
lights systems and urban mobility services, Plevneliev said.

In the field of mining, a Bulgarian company is interested in
cooperating with Mongolia, but it is waiting for Mongolia to
revise its legislation in order to make the national economy
more open to foreign investors, said Vladislav Trashliev, a
senior executive in the company. Mongolia has abundant
subsurface resources and its mining industry has a big
potential, but its current legislation sets certain conditions
to investors, such as compulsory Mongolian participation in
foreign ventures. Another problem is that every investment
project is required to contribute to the development of local
infrastructure, which implies additional expenses.

Yet another agreement reached on Tuesday is about what will
become the first ever expedition of Bulgarian scientists in
Mongolia. In this project Bulgarian experts will assist the
conservation of prehistoric cave paintings in Mongolia and their
processing in line with UNESCO standards.

On Wednesday Plevneliev will start an official visit to South
Korea.