Expert council on circular economy and green transition will be established

A Council of Experts on circular economy and green transition will be established. This became clear at a meeting between the caretaker Minister of Economy and Industry, Nikola Stoyanov, and representatives of the scientific community and employers' organisations on April 11.

"The Expert Council should start working as soon as possible, because Bulgaria is lagging behind with the transition to a circular economy. The main task of its members will be to prepare proposals and a plan with specific measures and joint actions of the business, the state and the scientific community to catch up with our delay," Nikola Stoyanov said, quoted by the Ministry of Economy.

Representatives of the Ministry of Innovation and Growth and the Ministry of Education and Science will be invited to participate in the council.

Participants in the meeting commented that a completely new approach to environmental protection is needed.

"Funding action in this direction by companies is not only an investment in their business, but will also bring added value to our economy," caretaker Minister of Economy said.

During today's discussion, emphasis was also placed on the use of production waste as raw material that can be reused or even sold to other companies.

Prof. Nikolai Shterev, chairman of the Association of Economics and Management Teachers in the Industry, said it was "very important that lessons on environmental protection be included to a greater extent in school education, and universities will have a subsequent role in training future entrepreneurs," the Ministry of Economy said.

Tsvetan Simeonov, Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), suggested creating a database of experts on ecology and circular economy, with CVs and completed projects, so that enterprises can more easily find trained experts to assist them in this activity. The BCCI is also ready to participate in the preparation of a self-assessment survey for enterprises to check for themselves what their level of development in the circular economy is.

At today's meeting, caretaker Minister Nikola Stoyanov also presented the upcoming "Forward Green 2023" exhibition, which will be held in Thessaloniki between 8th and 10th of June, 2023. Bulgaria is an honorary guest country of the exhibition. He stressed that the exhibition will bring together representatives and experts from the governmental and non-governmental sectors of Greece, Southeastern, Central and Northern Europe, as well as Asia, and America, and will be a platform for discussion, exchange of experiences and initiation of joint projects in the sector.

Caretaker Minister Stoyanov was congratulated by the representatives of the scientific community for the public way of organising and conducting the competitions for trade representatives in the Trade and Economic Affairs Offices (TEAO) abroad as a means of attracting motivated and knowledgeable personnel in the foreign economic policy of Bulgaria.

The meeting was attended by caretaker Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry Yanko Topalov, representatives of the management of the Higher School of Agribusiness and Regional Development, prof. Bozhidar Hadzhiev from the Institute of Economic Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, prof. Nikolai Shterev, Chairman of the Association of Economics and Management Teachers in the Industry, Tsvetan Simeonov, Chairman of the Board of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.