State-owned dairy products company LB Bulgaricum EAD will move its production base from Sofia to Vidin in a bid to stimulate the economy in Bulgaria's northwestern region.

Vasil Zografov, Executive Director of the state-owned dairy processing company, explained Thursday that LB Bulgaricum would only keep the production of starter cultures and cultures for functional food products in Sofia.

Zografov, as cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA), made clear that LB Bulgaricum would move to Vidin thanks to funding under a project worth around BGN 6 M of the Competitiveness Operational Program which the company had won several months ago.

He announced that the funding would be used for purchasing a new production line for fresh dairy products scheduled to become functional by May 2013 and to create 20 jobs.

"Economic news is hard to come by in the region of Vidin, which is why I hope that such events will happen more often," commented Tsvetan Asenov, Vidin District Government.

The northwestern municipality of Vidin has the highest unemployment rate, according to statistics of Bulgaria's Employment Agency for December 2012.

According to the data, as cited by investor.bg, 22% of the people capable of working in the region are unemployed.

Bulgaria's northwestern region is officially the poorest region in the European Union.

The official launch of Danube Bridge 2 connecting Vidin and Calafat in May 2013 is to create new opportunities for LB Bulgaricum which is already popular across the world.