The tourist sector in Bulgaria is expected to cope well with the challenges this year and to repeat the good results of the previous 2018, officials from Bulgaria's Ministry of Tourism have stated. The winter season has already started, with lodging, dining establishments and businesses ready to meet the challenges. There is a slight decline in pre-booked packages overall, however, which is most pronounced in traditional markets for Bulgaria such as Russia and Germany, as visits of Russian and German tourists are expected to be reduced by 12.4% and 11.2% respectively. At the same time, there are some markets where growth has been observed, such as Greece with a 6% growth, Ukraine with 24,3%, the UK with about 20%, the Netherlands with 7,3% and Hungary with 26,8%.

Bulgaria has complied with all the recommendations of the European Commission on the share of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, Bulgarian Minister of Economy Temenuzhka Petkova. We are one of the few countries in the EU that has exceeded its targets for the use of renewable sources. When it comes for the other goals for creating competition in the field of natural gas and integrating the Bulgarian market with the European one, as well as connecting with the neighboring countries, we have also being working according to the recommendations of Brussels, Minister Petkova said. If we talke about the deliveries of fresh nuclear fuel for the Kozloduy NPP, we can also say that recommendations have been fully implemented. Currently, an agreement for the supply of fresh fuel has been approved by the EU Supply Agency, Minister Petkova added.

The Australian copper and gold ore prospecting and exploration company Raiden Resources has entered into a fourth agreement within a few months to acquire a stake in projects in Bulgaria. The current contract is for the Iglika area in the Eastern Rhodopes and is signed with Balkan Mineral and Discovery, which holds the exploration rights. According to the agreement, Raiden Resources can acquire up to 100% of the area under certain conditions. The rights to the terrain are currently held by the registered in the town of Madzharovo, Balkan Mineral and Discovery (BMD). Under the agreement, Raiden will receive 1% of BMD, providing funding for the necessary administrative fees for the permit, which must be paid by the end of January 2020, amounting to about EUR 30,000. If the company provides EUR 300,000 in exploration costs by the end of next year, it will acquire another 50%, and the last 49% could be acquired for an additional investment of EUR 600,000 by the end of 2021.

Bulgaria's government has decided to terminate the concession contract awarded to local Devnya Cement for the Selski nivi quartz sand deposit, upon the company's request. Considering the current market conditions, the company has decided to alter its future production strategy and no longer intends to exploit the resources at the deposit. Devnya Cement won the concession of the deposit, located in the Varna region, in 2009. Devnya Cement generated revenue if BGN 137.3 million in 2018 and closed the year with a net profit of BGN 16.9 million.

Five companies have been shortlisted for negotiations on the Belene Nuclear Power Plant project, Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova told Parliament’s Energy Committee. Three of them, the Russian, South Korean and Chinese companies, are bidding for strategic investorsto. The other two, from Frnace and the USA, wish to supply the equipment - turbines and security systems, and provide some of the financing, the energy minister said. Bulgaria will participate in the future company with the Belene site, licenses and two Russian reactors. The project itself will be implemented on a market principle, without state guarantees and without commitment of the state to buy electricity from the future power plant. The investors are allowed to negotiate electricity purchases with companies seeking to acquire minority stakes in Belene. The state reserves the right to have a blocking minority in a future project company.

Bombardier Transportation GmbH, Siemens Tron, Exelor-EL Consortium and Stadler Rail Valencia SAU have applied for participation in the public procurement for delivery and maintenance of new electric locomotives for the passenger transport department of the Bulgarian State Railways (BDZ). The estimated value of the contract is over EUR 29 million. The signing of the contract is planned to take place by March 2020 and the delivery of the first new locomotives is planned to happen within 18 months after the signing.

Bulgaria's Sopharma Properties REIT said that local diversified group Donev Investments Holding has acquired 970 shares in the company at a weighted average price of BGN 6.40 per share. Donev Investments Holding acquired the shares in three transactions on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange on December 18. The acquired shares represent a 0.004% stake in the capital of Sopharma Properties REIT. At the end of September, Donev Investments Holding held a stake of 9.04% in Sopharma.

Cosmetics producer Bulgarian Rose pocketed sales revenue of BGN 246,000 in November, exceeding its forecast for BGN 226,000 in monthly revenue. The company's accumulated sales in the first eleven months of the year amounted to BGN 5.69 million. Bulgarian Rose generated revenue of BGN 6.32 million in the January-November period of 2018. Sales in December are projected at BGN 329,000, up from its December 2018 sales of BGN 290,000, reported previously. Earlier this year, Bulgarian Rose terminated its deal with Beijing Fangcaoziyan Cosmetics Trading Co. for exports of cosmetic products and rose oil due to the Chinese company's systemic failure to adhere to the agreement. Karlovo-based Bulgarian Rose, established in 1948, manufactures cosmetic products for face, body, and hair using rose oil and locally-grown herbs. Bulgarian Rose, part of blue-chip industrial group Stara Planina Hold, has stores in nine cities across Bulgaria.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced she is sending a letter to U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson which asks that the U.K. Parliament grants its Scottish counterpart the right to hold another referendum on independence. Sturgeon who leads the Scottish National Party (SNP) told reporters in Edinburgh that while the case for independence was yet to be won, an ability to vote on the matter must again be placed in the hands of Scots. “We are a nation, no better or worse than any other... As a nation, our future, whatever we choose that to be, must be in the hands of people that live here,” said Sturgeon. In last week’s U.K.-wide general election, the SNP won 48 of the country’s 59 available seats — 13 more than the pro-independence party won in 2017. The Conservative Party, while winning a large majority across the whole of the United Kingdom, lost seven seats in Scotland.

BMW AG and Daimler AG said they plan to exit the North American car-sharing market, with the joint venture partners halting operations in Montreal, New York, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Vancouver, as they focus on the European market. SHARE NOW and its Car2Go unit, a joint venture of the two German automakers, are ending operations on Feb. 29 in the United States and Canada, citing the “volatile state of the global mobility landscape,” and the costs of operating in North America. The company also said it was halting operations in three European cities, Florence, London and Brussels. It said it would focus on “our remaining European cities in which we, along with our shareholders, believe show the greatest potential for profitable growth and mobility innovation.” DriveNow, part of the combined firm, started in London in December 2014, but “had to face the hard reality that we could still not convince enough people to do so,” the company said in announcing its exit from the UK market. It is the latest sign of financial struggles in the broader mobility market and a setback to those who view car-sharing as a way to reduce carbon pollution and congestion, because unlike ridesharing services, the vehicles are not on the road between trips.

China has unveiled a new list of tariff exemptions for imports from the United States, days after the world's two largest economies announced a Phase 1 trade deal. The tariff waivers announced on Thursday will be effective December 26 and will apply to six items, most of them chemical products such as lubricants and plastics, the Ministry of Finance said. The exemption will be for one year and will end on December 25, 2020, the ministry said but did not provide the value of the imported goods excluded from duties. Duties already imposed on US products will not be refunded, the ministry added. China waived import tariffs for some soybeans and pork shipments from the US on December 6, before the two sides reached a Phase 1 trade deal to cancel tariffs that had been planned to take effect on December 15. China said it will continue to work on the product exemptions and release the second batch of waivers at an appropriate time. Meanwhile, both countries are in close communication over the signing of their Phase 1 trade deal, China's commerce ministry said, which will see lower US tariffs on Chinese goods and higher purchases of US farm, energy and manufactured goods.