Economy Minister Bozhidar Lukarski said that Information Technolohy (IT) was the fastest-developing industry in the country and Bulgaria was best known worldwide for its experts in the field.

However Bulgaria is experiencing a severe shortage of around 10 000 cadres, part of whom will have to be imported from abroad, Lukarski added in an interview for private bTV station on Tuesday.

The minister revealed that this was the trend on a global scale, where there was a similar shortage of IT experts, amounting to 1.5 million in Europe and 4 million in the world.

Lukarski assured that Bulgaria is no longer known only for its production of wines, vegetables and fruits.

Among the priorities of the ministry are included measures for improving the access to markets in third countries since Bulgarian producers suffer from the more competitive European producers.

Another measure is the unification of agricultural producers in clusters, which will provide producers with access to markets in third countries, as most of the EU markets have already been allocated.

He added that Bulgarian goods are competitive and have good quality, but frequently producers are not able to meet the quantitative demands, which will be aided by the clusters.

Lukarski said that the five priorities, which will aid the development of the Bulgarian economy, have to be implemented until the beginning of 2016.

The minister admitted that the State Agency for Metrological and Technical Surveillance lacks financial, technical and expert capacity to supervise the dams, as the planned amendments to the Water Act foresee.

The establishment of a body, which will monitor the technical state of the discharge facilities of dams, was forthcoming.

Lukarski explained that according to estimates, BGN 4 M will have to be allocated to the activities of such a body on an annual basis.

This will also necessitate the employment of 90 specialists with knowledge in hydro-melioration.

At his last visit to Azerbaijan, the minister negotiated the holding of two business fora in Sofia and Baku with the participation of business representatives from both countries.

According to him, Azerbaijan is familiar with Bulgarian industry and agriculture and is interested in developing the bilateral relations between the two countries.

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