Bringing to light the shadow economy, fighting corruption and overcoming the growing foreign trade deficit are among the areas where business and the government are ready to cooperate, Economy Minister Peter Dimitrov said Wednesday.

He was speaking to the press after a meeting of employers' organizations with representatives of the Socialist party, and the government ministers for finance, economy and labour, BTA reported.

Dimitrov said that employers and government have shared problems and a further development in the efforts to solve them should be expected next week.

Commenting employers' complaints of excessive licensing requirements, the Economy Minister said that the bulk of proposals made by the businesses concern regulation which is required by the European legislation and Bulgaria will be faced with sanctions if it goes ahead with scrapping it.

At the Wednesday meeting the two sides agreed that representatives of employers and the Economy Ministry will set up working groups for each controversial licensing requirement to consider its future.

The organizations of employers also complained of inadequate staffing of the Operational Programme (OP) Competitiveness and of poor interaction with businesses. Some OP officers have been unresponsive and uncommunicative to potential beneficiaries, the Economy Minister said.

He has asked the businesses to submit written complaints and urged them to be unsparing and use specific names. "I have made a commitment for this programme and I promise to take measures," Dimitrov said.