Bulgaria is expected to join efforts with world-leading countries such as the US, UK, Australia, Switzerland and Japan and support the Blue Dot Network mechanism aiming to attract quality and sustainable investments and certify infrastructure projects that meet robust global standards
Milen Hristov, CEO of Eastern European Electric Company (EEEC) B.V., which is part of Eurohold Bulgaria AD and owner of the holding’s electricity group -Electrohold, participated as a panelist in “Bulgarian Collective Action Platform: The Added Value of the Blue Dot Network”international high-level forum, held on June 14th in Sofia.
Among the participants in the event were Richard Nephew, U.S. State Department Coordinator on Global Anti-Corruption, the US Ambassador - H.E. Kenneth Merten, diplomats, senior representatives of state and local authorities, including Deputy Minister of Finance Martin Danovski and Mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev, heads of NGOs and business organizations, academics and others.
The forum was organized by the Basel Institute on Governance, the American Chamber of Commerce, the Bulgarian-Swiss Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Industrial Capital in Bulgaria (AICB). The idea of the organizers is to engage the private sector in Bulgaria to strengthen the rule of law and to build on collective efforts to fight corruption, strengthen transparency and governance in the country and attract sustainable investments in infrastructure projects through a certification mechanism.
During the event the organizers presented the Blue Dot Network - a voluntary, private-sector focused and internationally supported mechanism to certify quality and sustainable infrastructure projects that meet robust global standards. The goal is to attract investments for high-quality infrastructure projects and ensure their sustainable financing. The network is supported by the world’s leading economies such as the US, Canada, the UK, Australia,n Japan and Switzerland. In Europe, the Blue Dot Network is supported by Spain, Turkey and the Czech Republic. Bulgaria is also expected to join the club of countries contributing to the deployment of the initiative.
The event in Sofia on June 14th was the second international forum, organized by the Basel Institute on Governance and its partners and focused on collective efforts to fight corruption and strengthen transparency and governance, that had been held in the Bulgarian capital in the past month. On May 13th, a roundtable on the implementation of the High-Level Reporting Mechanism (HLRM) was organized - Consultations between business and Bulgarian government representatives. It presented the concept of Collective Action as a tool to increase transparency in the award and implementation of public procurement. The management of Eurohold was also represented at this forum through Milen Hristov, EEEC’s Director, and Kiril Boshov, Eurohold’s Management Board Chairman, who also represented AICB as a member of the board of the association.
The HRLM is an early warning and reporting tool for suspected corrupt practices in procurement processes for large public investment and infrastructure projects. It is in line with OECD requirements and recommendations, and aims to facilitate the swift resolution of such alerts without significantly delaying the procurement process.
The Basel Institute Forums are part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed between the Basel Institute on Governance and the Bulgarian government signed in March 2022. The project is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
