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Bulgaria and Sweden would co-operate in the fields of trade and energy, according to the memorandum for economic assistance between the two countries.

Energy cooperation aims to boost efficiency and to develop the regional energy networks, resources and infrastructure, a Council of Ministers press release said. This would be achieved through the use of new equipment and environment protection technology.

Bulgaria would also try to increase its usage of bio-fuels and renewable energy resources, the press release said.

Companies participating in the projects would be responsible for the re-novation of existing and the construction of new energy facilities.

A Bulgarian-Swedish workgroup would act as an executive body and would monitor the execution of the agreement.

The two countries would exchange energy know-how and ideas concerning the upcoming liberalisation of Bulgaria?s energy market. Sweden will present the experience of its main energy operator Svenska Kraftnat and the energy regulatory body Swedish Energy Agency.

Next year's Budget in Bulgaria will reportedly be put together with a view to achieving a 0.8 per cent surplus.

According to the Associated Press, Budget predictions for 2007 will be based around a gross domestic product of 51 billion leva (?25 billion) as well as average annual inflation of around 4.4 per cent.

The three-party coalition in Bulgaria is said to be seeking a solid macroeconomic framework that will support its expected accession to the European Union in January next year and the early signs will please those interested in property investment in the country.

In the run up to EU accession, Bulgaria is expecting to receive financial aid from the bloc while there are also membership payments to the union that need to be taken into account. The Associated Press notes that next year's Budget will take both factors into consideration as prime minister Sergei Stanishev looks to balance the books.

Meanwhile, in another example of the momentum that has been picked up in recent months, Bulgaria is making strides in its attempt to clamp down on corruption. EU affairs minister Meglena Kuneva is today making a presentation in Brussels that will outline Bulgaria's resolution to adopt a stricter approach to corruption, reports the Bulgarian News Network.

There is already a schedule in place that should see Bulgaria meet the requirements set by the EU, but Mr Kuneva will reportedly take this a stage further by insisting on transparency at all levels of government.

An issue that will receive special attention is that of financial regularity in relation to politicians. According to reports, the new measures will remove any possible ambiguity from the incomes or property rights of those at the top, which will presumably be used as an example to weed out corruption throughout all areas of society.

EU accession is of course the central goal for Bulgaria and foreign minister Ivailo Kalfin has been arguing that it will provide greater stability throughout south-eastern Europe. He also said that it will be beneficial to the growth of democracy in the region.

The Sofia Echo reports that Mr Kalfin is now taking part in the Black Sea Forum for Dialogue and Partnership in Bucharest that will be centred on improving cooperation between countries in the Black Sea region.

Bulgaria has already attracted a huge amount of interest from property investors but the general consensus is that EU accession will make this an even more attractive proposition.

Some clearly do not need any encouragement, however, including a certain Scott Alexander who has decided to buy an entire Bulgarian town.

Mr Alexander is a lifestyle and property tycoon and he has bought the Bulgarian coastal town with the intention of transforming it into a hotspot for tourists. He has not yet revealed which town he has bought, but he has admitted that he will eventually rename it "Alexander".

"Bulgaria is definitely an up-and-coming country. I think there will be a massive property boom over there. It has golden beaches, the weather is hot between May and October, the food is fantastic, and cheap too," he said.

"I'll be building apartments, hotels, casinos and a lifestyle centre. There will be a regeneration programme for the town itself. We will regenerate housing and build a hospital," he added.

While the average punter may not be prepared to fork out ?3 million on a coastal town, buying the odd property in Bulgaria is becoming increasingly common and the Black Sea regions are certainly some of the most popular.

Growing interest in the construction of spa centres resulted in increased real estate prices in some popular Bulgarian spa resorts.

Spa tourism remains relatively undeveloped but has considerable growth potential, 24 Chassa reported. At present the most profitable investment was buying hotel in a spa region, the newspaper said.

According to imot.bg, Velingrad was the town with highest spa hotel development potential. The town offers over 20 hotels at an average price of 675 euro a sq m. Buildings in need of additional repair work are usually sold for 250 euro a sq m. Pomorie offers the most inexpensive hotels with average prices around 600 euro a sq m.

Apart from hotels, investors show interest in purchasing old houses later renovated into small but high-quality spa centres. The town of Hisarya offers nearly 40 houses suitable for these purposes at prices of 312 euro a sq m. In comparison, a similar house in Velingrad would cost432 euro a sq m, 24 Chassa reported.

Despite their popularity as spa centres, the towns of Sandanski and Pavel Banya offer little for investors interested in hotel construction. The houses for sale need considerable repair work. Prices vary between 496 and 172 euro a sq m.

A congress of the International Ski Instructors Association (ISIA) took place in Borovets winter resort on June 4.

Representatives of 22 countries took part in the forum, BGNES sport agency reported. Delegates got acquainted with the winter sport opportunities that Bulgarian resorts offered.

During the final press conference ISIA members said Borovets and Bansko, Bulgaria?s leading winter resorts, could host international competitions.

Infrastructure in Bansko was as good as the one in Vancouver, ISIA deputy president Normand Lapierre said.

ISIA representatives were not members of the International Olympic Committee, which deprived them of the chance to support Bulgaria?s bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, Lapierre said.

Conducting Winter Olympics required good organisation skills apart from the proper infrastructure, ISIA representatives said. Bulgaria needed to host other major championships beforehand to accumulate experience.

DeTeImmobilien, part of the Deutsche Telekom Gruppe, is considering offering property management services in Bulgaria, said Norbert Woyciechowski, head of international activities. The company executive said the Bulgarian market is showing great potential with the increased supply of office, hotel and shopping center buildings. DeTeImmobilien is already doing business in Hungary and Slovakia

Austrian companies are willing to invest about EUR 1 B in the building of malls and underground parking lots in Sofia, media reported.

There is wide interest in the capital, Sofia's chief architect Petar Dikov said for 24 Hours daily newspaper.

Dikov visited the Vienna Real expo, where Sofia had a stand for the first time ever. Coming back Dikov explained that many Austrian companies were also vividly looking into the possibilities of building housing in new Sofia neighborhoods.

Some investors, however, are holding back because there isn't enough statistical data concerning the real estate market in the capital, Dikov believes.

In the meantime it became clear that there are four projects for the construction of parking lots downtown Sofia that will soon be opened for concession.

Dikov said the Municipality is actively working for solving the parking problem in the centre of the capital city.

Anyone who has bought property in Bulgaria will tell you that the prices are so low, it is impossible to lose, Matthew Brunwasser wrote in an article for International Herald Tribune.

Prices will continue to rise. The only uncertainty is by how much. And how long, the article continues.

The Balkan country already has had 12 years of increases. And the National Statistical Institute reported in January that the average sales price per square meter for residential properties in Bulgarian cities had gone up 36.6 percent in the previous year.

But residential prices in Sofia still average only EUR 600, or USD717, per square meter. That is much less than the EUR 750 average per square meter in Bratislava, Slovakia; EUR 850 in Bucharest and EUR 1,500 in Prague, according to the National Real Property Association of Bulgaria.

Those numbers have pushed Bulgaria squarely into the real estate spotlight, attracting West Europeans lured by the current hot place for vacation homes and, to a lesser extent, for investment. And real estate agencies from small European countries like Ireland and Malta have opened offices in Bulgaria in an effort to expand their businesses.

Foreigners were involved in 23 percent of the 220,000 property deals registered in Bulgaria in 2005, transactions that totaled more than EUR 4 billion, according to the property association. The year before they generated 18 percent of all sales, or EUR 3.36 billion.

Overall, real estate is one of the fastest growing sectors in the national economy, which grew by 5.2 percent in 2005. Observers say that while the foreign interest certainly has not hurt, the country itself is producing much of the change.

The new International Bank Account Number (IBAN) becomes effective in Bulgaria as of Monday, June 5.

The banking system has taken all necessary measures to ensure non-problematic switch to the new code. As of June 5 only the new IBAN will be effective and the bank clients will be able to make remittances only from accounts in a IBAN format.

The new bank account numbers include 22 symbols instead of ten and feature letters along with the figures. Bulgaria's banks started replacing the numbers of more than six million accounts used by companies and citizens on March 1.

IBAN is an international standard for numbering bank accounts. It was originally adopted by the European Committee for Banking Standards, and was later adopted as ISO 13616:1997.

The IBAN always starts with a two-digit country code, which is followed by a two-digit control part, a reference to the bank (the bank's local code) and the beneficiary's domestic account number.

Usage of the IBAN reduces the number of possible delays and errors upon making international payments, because the bank sending the payment is able to check the correctness of the account number (IBAN) entered by the client before the payment is sent out of the bank. Thus, usage of the IBAN allows for quicker transfer of funds and future reduction of service fees related to international payments.

Bulgaria is the 43rd country to implement the IBAN bank account format.

Bulgaria has placed 13th in the offshoring environment rankings prepared by research and advisory firm Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

The rankings are topped by India. China and the Czech republic round off the top 3.

The ranking score of each offshoring destination is based on 9 separate measures: proximity, political and security risk, macroeconomic stability, regulatory environment, tax regime, labour regulation, labour costs, labour skills and infrastructure.

Although India will continue to enjoy strong growth as companies expand offshoring activities, EIU argues that the future of offshoring will not be a race to the bottom on costs.

Locations closer to home - nearshoring operations in Central and Eastern Europe and North Africa, will be a key focus of expansion for companies based in Europe, said EIU.

European companies need shared-service centres that can operate in European languages - not just in English. But India or other rock-bottom locations cannot support operations in anything but English.

Until recently, Bulgaria was mostly known for software development, but Hewlett-Packard this year set up a high-level IT support centre for the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region, which aims to employ 1,000 by 2007, said EIU.

'Our centres in Central and Eastern Europe provide services through highly skilled, multi-lingual resources at lower cost than in Western Europe,' said Jan Zadak, HP?s vice president and managing director EMEA.

Kaliakra Invest, a Bulgaria-British joint venture, will invest 60 mln euro in the construction of a holiday complex near cape Kaliakra, on the Black Sea coast, said the company's manager Ivan Stanchev at Monday's ground-breaking ceremony.

The 28 ha Green Coast holiday complex should be ready in 3.5 years, placing on the market 1,400 new apartments.

The first 1.5-year stage of the project will involve the development of a 8.5 ha lot at a cost of 32 mln euro.

Some of the apartments, with some 400 of them to be handed over during the first implementation stage, have already been sold off-plan.

The guests of the complex, perched above the shoreline at a height that varies between 50 to 80 m, will be able to take one of two 16-person elevators down to the beach.

Green Coast will also feature a heli pad, a 200-bed hotel and a spa center.

The vicinity of the pristine beachfront area to the Kaliakra nature reserve was the key selling point for the British real estate agency that joined the project, said Stanchev.

Stanchev recently announced that Interlink BG, another Bulgarian-British joint venture in which he participates, has kicked off the 17 mln euro Windows to Paradise vacation complex near the village of Topola, in the Kavarna coastal area