site.btaNearly 105 Million Leva Transferred to Tobacco Growers in National Payments

Nearly 105 Million Leva Transferred to Tobacco Growers in National Payments

Sofia, March 27 (BTA) - Money in national payments totalling
nearly 105 million leva was transferred to about 40,500 tobacco
growers on Thursday, Agriculture and Food Minister Dessislava
Taneva said after talks Friday with heads of several trade
associations of stock breeders and tobacco growers. Prime
Minister Boyko Borissov and State Agriculture Fund Executive
Director Roumen Porozhanov too attended the talks.

Porozhanov said that 30 per cent of the 105 million leva amount
went to tobacco growers in the Kurdjali Region, 20 per cent to
farmers in the Blagoevgrad Region, about 18 per cent to the
Haskovo Region, among others.

Taneva said that the Turkish market will open for live animals
and other farm produce from Bulgaria, after talks she held to
this effect during a visit to Turkey. Bulgaria will fulfil
commitments in this respect, such as lifting of disinfection
activities at border checkpoints and reintroducing them only
after a decision on their necessity has been made by the two
countries' chief veterinarians, Taneva said. Another commitment
is to ease the transit of trucks carrying fruit and vegetables
to Europe by reducing the processing time for such trucks and
streamlining phytosanitary fees, in compliance with the European
 legislation.

Borissov noted that Taneva and Porozhanov managed to ensure the
money, which was no small feat given the gaps in the budget. The
 PM said that good work was done "in dialogue with the tobacco
growers". "We did not separate them into Muslims and Christians,
 as we did not separate them as being affiliated to either the
Movement for Rights and Freedoms, the Bulgarian Socialist Party,
 or GERB," Borissov said, noting that the money was vitally
important for the people living in these areas.

Commenting the outcome of the talks with Turkey, Borissov said
that the Turkish market is extremely important for Bulgaria.
"This is one side of the matter. The other one is the total
torture at the border, so that we have agreed for the two
veterinary inspectors to come up with a regime for border
crossing where everything is accomplished quickly, with no
torture or extortion," Borissov said, adding that the matter was
 also discussed in a recent phone call he had with Turkish Prime
 Minister Recep Erdogan.

Borissov said that talks were also held with representatives of
Qatar and the emirates. He expressed a hope that exports will
resume soon to these affluent markets. The PM said that at the
moment Bulgaria exports animals only to Albania and "at the
lowest price in the world".