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Germany's first group of tourists for this season are arriving in Bulgaria's Varna Wednesday.

The 150 vacationers will find the resort city with a temperature of only 7 degrees Celsius, while snow recently fell over the country's west.

Nevertheless, Germans this year were quicker to open the holiday season. Last year the first batch arrived at the seaside in middle March.

Bulgaria hopes to join the single European currency, the euro, in 2009, Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev said Monday.

He made his remarks at a meeting with the visiting head of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet, the government press offices said.

"The government is working for Bulgaria's accellerated accession to the (EU) Economic and Monetary Union and the successful introduction of the euro in 2009," the service quoted Stanishev as saying at a meeting with Thrichet, who started a two-day visit to this country.

Stanishev said the Socialist-led three-way government was planning to maintain Bulgaria's macroeconomic stability and ensure its admission into the EU in 2007.

The main challenges before Bulgaria's bid to join the euro are inflation, soaring foreign debt and current account deficit, Trichet told a public discussion attended by diplomats, politicians and economists.

He praised the country's central bank's efforts to contain a surge in loans that has triggered concern among international lenders and particularly the International Monetary Fund.

"Bulgaria has made noticeable progress in terms of conducting a stable macroeconomic policy ... But the recent dynamic of Bulgaria's external accounts indisputably calls for enhanced vigilance," Trichet said. "This dynamic has been largely fed by robust credit growth to the private sector."

"Inflation is certainly another challenge on the road to future European monetary Union membership after entry in the European Union. Indeed, at 6.5 percent at the end of last year, headline inflation is high," he added.

The central bank said last week Bulgaria's current account deficit widened to 14.9% of gross domestic product last year from 8.5% a year earlier.

The bank cited also preliminay data showing that credit expanded by 32.4% by the end of the last year.

Inflation has moved from 10.3% in 2000 to 2.3% in 2003 and 6.5% at the end of 2005.

Sofia already experiences problems with providing terrains for new constructions, Capital weekly reports. At the same time 34 villages in the Sofia region house 6.5 per cent of the 1.2 million citizens of the capital.

To escape from the noise, traffic and lack of clean air a third of the Sofia residents would move to the suburbs in the coming 15 years according to predictions.

Most new construction occurs in the region near Vitosha mountain. In the past, the region housed only villas but is now turning into a residential suburb.

Construction terrains are still available in Sofia but the future of the property market is in the eastern and southern suburbs. Sofia would merge with the Vitosha mountain and the tendency is natural. All of this would happen gradually, property experts said.

Most consumers are still hesitant accepting a new product but with the correct marketing strategy property sales in the new suburbs would increase soon.

Construction in Sofia itself would turn to housing complexes and one-family houses, property experts predicted.

People now have more disposable income and a middle class is beginning to emerge. These people prefer calmer surroundings and the interest toward property in the Vitosha region is growing.

The 23rd edition of the International Tourism Fair Holiday & Spa Expo kicked off in Bulgaria's capital Sofia.

It will be held under the patronage of Mayor Boyko Borissov. The exhibition will be open until February 24.

This year Holiday & Spa Expo welcomes representatives of more than 200 tour-operator companies, sector organizations, tourist resorts, hotels and specialized education and training facilities.

Special emphasis is placed on the participation of spa centers, resorts, and hotels and on spa and fitness equipment manufacturers.

Construction works on the territory of Sunny Beach resort will stop on May 15, mayor Nikolai Trifonov said.

The ban will be valid during the entire summer season, Dnevnik newspaper reported. It will end in September, once tourists start leaving the resort.

For Nessebar, the new regulations will be in force starting June 1. Once constructions stops, owners have to ensure safety of the sidewalks surrounding the buildings.

During the summer all heavy machinery needs to be taken out of the resorts.

In May construction works will also cease in Pomorie municipality, though the first tourists there are expected to arrive in April.

If construction works are underway after the announced dates, owners will be fined. In Primporsko the fine totals 1000 leva, mayor Dimitar Dimitrov said. Construction works are occurring on more than 50 hotels in the city.

More than 700 companies from 37 countries have joined the AGRA 2006 expo in Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second largest city.

The forum was opened on Tuesday by the Bulgarian agriculture head, Nihat Kabil, with the aim to present the accomplishments of Bulgarian farmers to potential partners.

Of all 762 participating firms 308 are from the host country, 93 are Italian, 71 - German.

Other represented countries include Holland, Greece and Turkey

Starting June 5 all bank accounts will be replaced with new numbers, representatives of the Bulgarian National Bank said.

The new internationally accepted standard International Bank Account Number (IBAN) will be introduced, Focus news agency reported. IBAN is generated according to the international bank accounts standard.

In Bulgaria IBAN will apply for both international and local transactions. The concept behind IBAN was created in the European banking standards committee. IN Bulgaria IBAN is accepted by the national standardisation committee.

Each country that accepts the system determines on its own the specific form and length of the code based on some international criteria. The system facilitates bank transactions and decreases the number of mistakes.

Until March 1 2006 all banks will generate IBAN codes for their clients. They will also have to inform clients of the new standards.

Bulgaria should join the Union in 2007 - my country already regards you as a EU member, Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek told his Bulgarian counterpart Sergey Stanishev in Prague.

Stanishev is on his first visit to Czech Republic that joined the EU in the fifth wave of enlargement.

During his talks with Paroubek Stanishev pointed out the positive upward tendency noticed in the development of Bulgarian-Czech relations. He underlined they will be further enhanced on the basis of shared values and common foreign policy interests as the Czech Republic is an important and stable partner to Bulgaria.

Prime Minister Paroube also stated that the Czech Republic will remain a good friend of Bulgaria, one that will always give a helping hand.

Bulgaria's prime minister expressed his gratitude to the Czech Republic for the support offered in the process of European integration. "It is something deeply appreciated not only by politicians but by the whole society. The EC is strict towards Bulgaria and will not allow compromises - a fact that motivates the government to be even more diligent in the implementation of the commitments taken before the EU and in the effective preparation of the country for EU membership," Stanishev said.

Stanishev gave his Czech counterpart a report summarizing what has been achieved by the Bulgarian institutions in the process of European integration.

The situation in the Balkans and South Eastern Europe and the perspectives before the countries in the region were also among the highlights of the meeting. The two government leaders pledged their support for the European and Euro-Atlantic perspective of the Western Balkans countries.

The two prime ministers will inaugurate a Bulgarian-Czech Business Forum, where Bulgaria's prime minister presented the country's opportunities to the Czech business.

The international exhibition Security 2006 is taking place in Sofia under the aegis of Bulgaria's Interior Ministry Rumen Petkov. The expo opened February 14 will continue to February 18. The 13th edition of the exhibition once again attracted the attention of many foreign and local participants

Plovdiv has the potential to develop cultural tourism, US ambassador to Bulgaria John Beyrle said.

The rich history and archaeology of the city make Plovdiv suitable destination for historic tourism Beyrle said. This is Beyrle's first visit to the city since his arrival in Bulgaria.

Beyrle met Plovdiv mayor Ivan Chomakov yesterday to discuss business partnership, the Bulgarian news agency reported.

The US ambassador and Chomakov discussed possibilities for US investment in the city. Talks focused on the Plovdiv administration, care for the old part of town and its archaeological sites, and infrastructure projects launched in May 2006 Chomakov said