Financing on the first offset agreements for the modernization of the Bulgarian army amounts EUR 777.37 M, country's deputy defense minister announced on Tuesday.

The total amount of the offset agreement is EUR 605 M. The other EUR 172. M came from the already terminated contract with the Israeli company Elbit Systems for the modernization of the MI17 and MI24 helicopters.

In the execution of the first big modernization projects of Bulgaria's Defense Ministry the negotiated offset obligations varied between 70% and 300%

Every offset that goes up than 100% ends with the price rise of the military product that is produced on demand, Deputy Minister Simeon Nikolov said at the international conference on offset.

Bulgaria needs sufficient financial resources for the carrying out of the Defence Ministry's priorities, Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev said at the opening of the forum.

More than 2,6% of the GDP has to be allocated annually for the modernization of the Bulgarian army, Stanishev said and added that new ways of attracting investments to Bulgaria need to be sought, including offset.

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