BTA: Chair of Commodity Exchange State Commission to Head Coordination Centre on Euro Adoption

At the beginning of Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, outgoing Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov reported that the mechanism for introducing the euro will be enhanced by establishing a coordination centre that will be headed by Vladimir Ivanov, the Chair of the Commodity Exchange and Wholesale Markets State Commission.

The centre's task is to coordinate the work of institutions at the central, regional, and municipal levels on all matters related to control activities, communication aspects, and response to problems that citizens and businesses may encounter during the period of dual price labelling and dual circulation of the lev and the euro. Zhelyazkov added: "We are counting on citizens and businesses for tolerance and understanding that the introduction of the euro will have a long-term positive effect on the economy and for the change in the environment in which the country is developing."

From January 1, Ivanov will be the person who will communicate with media representatives on all issues related to the introduction of the euro, Zhelyazkov also said.

Members of the coordination centre include the Deputy Interior Minister, the Deputy Transport and Communications Minister, the Deputy Finance Minister, the Deputy Chair of the State Agency for National Security, the Chair of the Consumer Protection Commission, the Executive Director of the National Revenue Agency, the Director of the Customs Agency, the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, and the regional governors.

In relation to issues connected to the introduction of the euro that are of regional or local importance, regional coordination centres to the regional governors are to be set up, with the participation of the mayors of the municipalities of the respective region. They will operate in a unified manner, as determined by a decision of the mechanism, the Government Information Service said.