Rumyana Bachvarova

Ten commercial chambers representing the leading trade partners of Bulgaria, which have invested more than 20 billion euros direct in the country in the past two decades, have written to the Bulgarian authorities urging them to reform the courts.

In an open letter addressed to state institutions, foreign investors called on Bulgarian authorities to carry out an effective reform of the judiciary.

During a meeting in Sofia on Friday, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, who is on a two-day visit to Bulgaria, vowed to enhance police cooperation.

Among the main topics of discussion were the ongoing migrant crisis in the EU and threats to security, the government's press service informs.

Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova expressed hope that the main facilities of the fence at the border with Turkey will be completed by the end of March.

Bachvarova said this during a parliamentary question and answer session on Friday, daily Dnevnik informs.

Bulgarian border police rescued on Wednesday 111 migrants from drowning in the Maritsa river.

This was announced by the deputy chief secretary of the interior ministry Georgi Arabadzhiev.

It has not yet been established whether the migrants are of Syrian or Iraqi origin, daily Sega reports.

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova and her Chinese counterpart Guo Shengkun signed on Monday an agreement on jointly preventing and combating crime.

The legal framework for cooperation in the area of law enforcement between Bulgaria and China was last updated in 1996.

The Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (KRIB) expressed on Monday its indignation at the recent murder of fashion entrepreneur Aleksandar Antov.

Antov, who was the owner of Agressia ("Aggression") fashion company, was found dead with gunshot wounds in the Bistritsa neighbourhood of Sofia early on Saturday.

The partnership between Bulgaria and the United States in countering drug trafficking activity in the Balkans received a boost on Thursday with the opening of a USD 1.9 M headquarters building of a joint task force of the respective law enforcement agencies of the two countries, officials said.

The Bulgarian government published on Monday information on former agents of the country's Communist-era secret service - State Security (DS).

The information is published in open data and is accessible at opendata.government.bg, the press service of the government informs.

The Bulgarian government authorised on Wednesday Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova to conclude a contract with Microsoft for participation in the Government Security Programme.

The State Agency for National Security (DANS) was selected as main contact point for the programme, the press service of the government informs.