Press Conference about the Three Bulgarian Projects Won Funding by the PMI Impact Global Initiative

In the Press Conference took part the Heads of the three projects: Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, Dean of the Economics of Infrastructure Faculty and Head of the National and Regional Security Department, Peter Ganev from the Institute for Market Economics (IME), Tihomir Bezlov and Atanas Rusev from the Center for Democracy Studies and Konstantin Azov, moderator of the Forum. In the Large Conference Hall attended also representatives of the Ministry of Interior and the Customs Agency, experts, journalists and students. 

Prof. Dimitrov greeted the participants in the Forum on behalf of the Rector of UNWE Prof. D.Sc.(Econ.) Statty Stattev. He presented the project on the Identification of Risk of Smuggling and Counterfeiting (Business Process and Spatial Aspect Analysis) which he defined as a good scientific perspective. The UNWE project was one of the thirty two ones chosen among 240 project proposals from all over the world, outlined the Dean. 

The UNWE project with two years duration which has started on 1 August will study the interaction of traffic from Turkey to West Europe on the Balkan route countries, pointed out Prof. Dimitrov. The project objective is to raise awareness of the problem about the illegal trade of tobacco products as well as to clarify the links with other crimes. The study will be focused on the operating way and relationships in cases of tobacco smuggling. It will identify the gaps and weaknesses in the national and European legislation and will mark legislative alterations.  

The project team consists of 20 specialists in various fields – risk management, business process analysis, geographic information systems, spatial time analyses, clusters as well as experts in the field of legal analysis and communications, pointed out the Head of the project. There will be elaborated also educational materials and courses for the law enforcement officials. The UNWE has a thorough experience in the implementation of seminars and educational programmes and these courses will be included as modules in different Bachelor`s and Master`s degree programmes, explained the Dean. 

Peter Ganev from the Institute for Market Economics (IME) presented the project on the Law and Economics of Illegal Trade of Tobacco Products in Bulgaria whose major objective is to study and expose the opportunities to improve the current policies, strengthen the institutional effectiveness, legislative framework, etc. 

The project on the Illegal Trade of Tobacco Products and the Balkan Route, Overcoming the Institutional Weaknesses implemented by the Center for Democracy Studies was presented by Tihomir Bezlov.