Bulgaria lags behind the rest of Europe where 10 to 15 per cent of public projects are implemented via public-private partnerships, Deputy Economy and Energy Minister Anna Yaneva told reporters Tuesday. At this moment the number of such projects in Bulgaria is rather low, she said.

Yaneva took part in an international conference on "Opportunities and Perspectives for the Development of Public-Private Partnership" organized by the Institute for Public-Private Partnership and the Sofia Chamber of Commerce and Industry, BTA reported.

According to Yaneva, using public-private partnership is one of the ways to reduce corruptive practices and solve certain problems relating to public services.

Commenting a draft ordinance on public-private partnership written by the Association of Bulgarian Towns and Regions, Yaneva said her Ministry would support it after it has read the document.

Yaneva said that a version of the updated strategy for the privatization of the Bulgartabac holding is to be ready within two weeks. The document is to be discussed by the government and then by Parliament.

The previous such strategy was approved back in 2003 and is no longer up-to-date. Bulgartabac is on the list of companies that are to be privatized through a strategy.

Several days ago Bulgartabac Holding group reported a net profit of over 13 million leva for 2007. The 2007 income of the company is about 41 million leva, down by 14.2 per cent from 2006 (some 47.6 million leva). The main reason for the drop is the smaller amount of dividends paid to Bulgartabac by its subsidiaries (down by 67.6 per cent from 2006). The company's income from trademark royalties totaled 22.3 million leva, up by 2.2 per cent from 2006 (21.8 million leva). Proceeds from tobacco sales exceeded the 2006 figure by more than 128 per cent, reaching 4.3 million leva.