Minister Pulev: The state is fully mobilized to help companies through the Recovery Plan

The state is in full mobilization to support small and medium-sized companies under the Recovery Plan. We are also mobilized in connection with the floods in the area, all institutions to support the people and settlements in distress. We work around the clock. This was said in Plovdiv by the Minister of Innovation and Growth, Alexander Pulev, at a mobile reception where he presented the funds available to businesses under the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan (NRSP) and under the Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises Program (CIEP) of the MIR .

According to him, BGN 735 million has been earmarked for small and medium-sized companies by the end of the year, of which BGN 600 million is under the Ministry of Innovation and Growth (MIG). "It is in MIR that we launched the first procedure under the Plan - Technological modernization of companies, which has a budget of BGN 260 million," Pulev said and appealed to companies in Plovdiv to apply by September 21.

"For the next month, we have also set the opening of the second measure under the Plan, which is for cyber security and ICT solutions for SMEs in the amount of BGN 30.6 million," he added. Pulev announced that by the end of the year, the third and fourth programs at PVU will be opened. "One open measure will be for BGN 200 million to build RES for own energy production. It is expected to achieve greater energy independence of enterprises. The other program will be for development activities and intellectual property with a total budget of BGN 120 million," he added.

Pulev added that on 16.08 the ministry has sent to Brussels the new competitiveness program with a budget of nearly BGN 3 billion. According to him, by the end of the year, and according to it, MIG is expected to announce an application for about BGN 140 million. "This is very good news and we want to we assure you that we are working hard to give a breath of fresh air to the small and medium-sized companies in Bulgaria", he also stressed. Pulev commented that there are about 40,000 companies working in Plovdiv and the region, of which 94% (about 33,000 companies) are micro-enterprises with up to 9 employees. "It is for them that the measures under the Recovery Plan and the programs financed by the EU are a chance to finance themselves and withstand the crises," he added.

Iliyana Ilieva, Chief Director of the General Directorate "European Competitiveness Funds" /DG EFK/ at the Ministry of Innovation and Growth, explained that the ministry will manage about BGN 7 billion until 2027, of which BGN 6.5 billion from the DG EFK. The Europeans are in 4 different directions, it became clear from her words. In addition to the programs for business under the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability in the amount of over BGN 1.3 billion, DG EFK will also manage the new Program "Competitiveness and Innovation in Enterprises" 2021-2027. "It is a continuation of the ending OP "Innovations and Competitiveness" and will have a budget of nearly BGN 3 billion. Its implementation is expected to start by the end of the year," Ilieva added. Part of the measures under the Program for Scientific Research, Innovation and Digitalization for Intelligent Transformation 2021-2027, with a budget of just over BGN 2 billion, will also be under the Ministry, as well as the Program for the Development of Industrial Zones and Parks from PSU.

Minister Pulev holds mobile receptions in a number of regional cities in the country in order to popularize the procedures to help businesses. After Plovdiv, there is a meeting with the regional governor of Pazardzhik, Trendafil Velichkov.