site.bta Germany Reopens Investment Guarantee Scheme for Bulgaria

Germany Reopens Investment Guarantee Scheme for Bulgaria


Sofia, January 20 (BTA) - Germany will reopen an investment
guarantee scheme for Bulgaria, the Economy Ministry said on
Tuesday, quoting a press release published on the website of
Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy.

The governments of Germany and Bulgaria welcome an agreement to
resolve an outstanding issue in regard to investment guarantees
provided by the German government for projects in Bulgaria. As a
result Germany will begin to collect applications for
investment guarantees to cover projects implemented in Bulgaria,
thus creating prerequisites to advance bilateral economic
cooperation, the press release says.

The reopening of the investment guarantee scheme comes after the
two governments concluded negotiations under the
Kloesters-Cemeko project covered by a German government
investment guarantee. After the construction project failed to
go ahead, the German Ministry of Economics and Energy had to pay
compensation for the participation of the German company and
had stopped to provide guarantees for German investments in
Bulgaria until the resolution of the case.

On December 18, the Bulgarian legislature ratified an agreement
between Bulgaria's Ministry of Economy and Germany's Federal
Ministry of Economics and Energy, as well as between Bulgaria's
Ministry of Economy and Kloesters Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH
of Kempen, Germany, on settlement by mutual consent of the case
of Cemeko OOD. Under the agreement between the two ministries,
Bulgaria undertook to pay Germany 2,093,352 euro - half of the
amount claimed over a breach of the bilateral Investment
Protection Treaty.