Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev, the entire management team of Alcomet, representatives of the state and local authorities, the university community, the Bulgarian Industrial Association and various branch organizations, departments and partners, deputies, diplomats and many guests attended the celebration, dedicated to the Metallurgist's Day in Shumen. The celebration was held under the motto "20 years of sustainable development of Alcomet JSC" as it coincides with the 20th anniversary of the privatization of the plant. The owners of the largest producer of aluminum roll and press products on the Balkan Peninsula Fikret Ince and Fikret Kuzucu welcomed the guests and thanked the state and the municipality for the created conditions for business development in Bulgaria.

In July-September 2019, local administrations issued construction permits for 1,630 residential buildings with 9,018 dwellings in them and a gross building area of 1,110,322 sq m, show data released by the National Statistical Institute. Compared to the previous quarter of the year, this is an increase by 2.5 per cent of the number of permits, by 6.6 per cent of the dwellings in them, and by 3 per cent of the gross building area. The third quarter of 2019 saw the issue of construction permits for 23 administrative buildings/offices with a gross building area of 58,419 sq m, down by 25.8 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, compared to the previous quarter of the year. Local administrations also issued construction permits for 1,188 other buildings with a square building area of 694,726 sq m, which is an increase by 1.7 per cent and 18 per cent, respectively, from June-August 2019.

The Munich Airport International airport operator is awaiting the completion of the procedures for appealing the selection of a concessionaire at Sofia Airport. Lorenzo Di Loreto, deputy director of sales and marketing at the company, said he hoped that would happen within three weeks. He also explained how the company plans to increase traffic at Sofia Airport and increase revenue at the airport. In the first place, the concessionaire will try to strengthen the position of the national air carrier Bulgaria Air and in particular to stabilize its financial position. According to him, the idea of new routes to exotic destinations in Asia is not realistic, as other candidates suggest. Regarding the development of the infrastructure of Sofia Airport, Di Loreto said that the major renovation of the existing two terminals at the airport will be done first. An entirely new third terminal will then be built.

The Public Enterprises and Control Agency, as was the Privatization Agency renamed, will sue KG Maritime Shipping, owned by Advance Properties, for failure to fulfill the Bulgarian Shipping Company's privatization contract of Navigation Maritime Bulgare (Navibulgar). By mid-2019, the company had to provide reporting documents on how and whether it fulfilled its commitments after the 2018 fleet expansion, in which the privatization contract expires. Only then did the Agency begin to analyze whether any of the conditions under it - for maintaining a certain number of staff, for investments, and above all - for ship tonnage - were fined and a fine of over BGN 50 million was imposed for failure to comply with the commitments made in 2008 during the company’s denationalization. The fine was not paid on time, so the Agency will bring a lawsuit. The contract stipulates that the buyer maintains a total tonnage of ships of at least 1 300 000 DWT (deadweight) annually. This was not respected.

BGN 308 million is the profit of Kozloduy NPP for the nine months of the year, state energy financial reports show. This is almost twice as much as in the same period of 2018, provided that EWRC obliges the plant to sell 55.5% more electricity on the regulated market and reduced the price of household and small business by BGN 0.10 per MWh. The plant's revenues are just over BGN 1 billion and are BGN 181 million more than in the same period a year earlier. Kozloduy NPP, whose head is Nasko Mihov, has BGN 530 million in cash. Bulgargaz also has a plus in energy, with a profit of BGN 35.8 million, with a loss at the end of 2018 of BGN 31.9 million, which is an improvement of the financial result by 211.99%. Bulgartransgaz report shows that the volumes of gas transported to Turkey have decreased dramatically by 63% and to Greece - by 20.38%, to Northern Macedonia by 34%. Electricity System Operator (ESO) reported BGN 16.6 million profit at BGN 25.11 million in 2018. NEK lost BGN 16 million, at BGN 161 million a year earlier, or the improved financial result was BGN 145 million. The state-owned TPP Maritza East 2 has accumulated a loss of BGN 173 million compared to BGN 262 million in 2018, the main reason being the cost of carbon emissions. This expense also pulls back the Bulgarian Energy Holding, which lost BGN 36.37 million compared to BGN 141.27 million profit in 2018.

Exports of Bulgarian weapons and ammunition declined significantly in the first nine months of 2019. The export of special production from Kintex amounted to BGN 70.88 million, compared to BGN 231.3 million for the same period last year. This represents a drop in export sales of nearly 70%. The company has supplied military production to India, Algeria and Nigeria. The profit is BGN 8.791 million, which is a decrease of 70% on an annual basis. At the same time, the financial result of VMZ-Sopot is increasing, the profit is BGN 14.888 million, compared to BGN 2.241 million a year earlier. This represents a profit growth of over 6.6 times. January-September sales of VMZ-Sopot amounted to BGN 177 million, which is BGN 66 million more than the revenues of BGN 111 million for the same period last year. In the last quarter of the year, the company is expected to carry out orders worth BGN 50-60 million. The state-owned NITI, which also produces military production, has a loss of BGN 85 thousand for the nine months, with a loss of BGN 12 thousand a year earlier. Avionams specializes in the repair and modernization of military and civilian helicopters as well as aircraft of the MiG and SU types. By the end of September the company had a profit of BGN 2 million, compared to BGN 6.5 million a year earlier.

Bulgaria's gas transmission network operator Bulgartransgaz said that its net profit grew to BGN 81 million in the January-September period of 2019 from BGN 68.8 million in the same period of 2018, as the company trimmed its expenses. Bulgartransgaz's revenue fell to BGN 256.1 million in the first nine months of the year from BGN 267.4 million in the comparable period of last year. The company nearly halved its technological expenses to BGN 25.1 million from BGN 49.1 million in the prior-year period. The major part of its company's expenses was formed by amortisation and depreciation costs, which increased to BGN 77.8 million in the review period from BGN 68.6 million the year before. Earlier this year, Bulgartransgaz inked several large deals for the construction of infrastructure related to the so-called BalkanStream project - the local leg of the TurkStream pipeline. Bulgartransgaz signed a EUR 1.1 billion contract with a consortium of Saudi-based Arkad Engineering and Construction Company and its Italy-based joint venture company Arkad ABB for the construction of a gas pipeline to the border with Serbia, and a BGN 351 million contract for the construction of compressor stations in Rasovo and Provadya with a consortium comprising Germany's Ferrostaal Industrieanlagen and Bulgaria's Glavbolgarstroy and Glavbolgarstroy International. Last month, Bulgartransgaz said that it has secured six-month loans worth a total of EUR 200 million from several lenders to finance the initial payments under the two contracts.

France is to introduce annual quotas for non-EU migrant workers in a taboo-breaking move seen as part of President Emmanuel Macron's attempt to toughen his stance on immigration to ward off the far-Right. Starting next year, authorities and bosses will earmark industries in need of qualified staff and make it easier to hire foreigners to fill the gap, said Labour minister Muriel Penicaud. "This is about France hiring based on its needs. It's a new approach, similar to what is done in Canada or Australia," Ms Penicaud said. Others measures due to be official unveiled on Wednesday by prime minister Edouard Philippe include suspending health care for asylum seekers and illegal immigrants for the first three months in the country. The government says it wants to stamp out “health tourism”, particularly from Albanians and Georgians, who don’t require visas to enter the Schengen passport-free zone. “Lots come to get healthcare. They know it’s free,” a ministerial source told Le Monde.

The U.S. trade deficit fell 4.7% to $52.5 billion in September as the country recorded its first petroleum surplus, but overall imports and exports otherwise fell under the weight of rising global tariffs and a slowing world economy. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the trade gap would fall slightly to $52.5 billion in September. The United States imported fewer cars but sold fewer overseas in September. It also imported fewer cellphones, toys and games, but sold less food, feed and beverages abroad. The August trade deficit was revised to a slightly wider $55.04 billion. While the petroleum surplus of $252 million was the first since 1978, it reflected both a drop in exports of U.S. oil and a larger decline in imports of foreign oil, a possible outgrowth of the recent weakness in manufacturing. The goods trade gap with China narrowed by $100 million to $31.6 billion, with exports to the country falling $800 million in September and imports from China falling $1.0 billion. The United States and China have been embroiled in a 16-month trade war, but the two parties have edged towards an initial agreement.

Iran will start injecting uranium gas into hundreds of centrifuges at its Fordow facility in the latest step away from the crumbling nuclear deal with world powers since the United States withdrew from the landmark accord last year. In a televised statement on Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the 1,044 machines at the plant will be injected with the uranium gas starting on Wednesday. "Gas will be injected into centrifuges at Fordow as part of part of our fourth step to reduce our nuclear commitments to the deal," Rouhani said in a televised speech. The move further complicates the chances of saving the nuclear deal, which European powers have called on Iran to respect. "The announcement by Iran ... goes against the Vienna agreement, which strictly limits activities in this area," French foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said. UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab denounced Tehran's move on Tuesday as a threat to Britain's national security. "Iran's latest actions clearly contravene the deal and pose a risk to our national security," Raab said.