1. 1 INITIAL STAGE Proposal of the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy and Energy Resources 26.10.2004 ESTABLISHMENT OF A REGIONAL ENERGY INFORMATION AND TECHNICAL CENTER /REITC/ IN SOFIA INITIAL STAGE Proposal of the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy and Energy Resources 26.10.2004

2. 2 CONFIRMATION 4Bulgaria welcomes the decision of the PHLG of 23 September 2004 to establish a Regional Energy Information and Technical Centre (REITC) as a division reporting to the ECSEE Secretariat, operating along the lines set out in Annex 3 of the “Discussion and Consultation Note – The Regional Energy Market in SEE and its Integration into the European Community’s IEM” presented to PHLG on 1 June 2004. 4Bulgaria recalls having presented during the First Energy Week of SEE held in Rome in March 2003 a proposal for establishing within the Athens Process institutional framework a Regional Technical Coordination Centre in Sofia, with practically the same objectives, tasks and scope of activities as REITC. 4Bulgaria confirms once again its proposal to provide the basis needed for the establishment of the REITC in Sofia (premises, support staff salaries, office equipment and financing to cover initial operation costs as well as the database collected so far regarding the development of the energy sector in the region).

3. 3 REITC IN SOFIA Basic arguments for locating the REITC in Sofia:  The proposal for establishment of a REITC in Sofia has a clearly stated political support - the Government has taken an official decision in this regard, and the President has also expressed his support.  Sofia has hosted for 7 years the Black Sea Regional Energy Centre (BSREC) - an organization whose members are a number of the countries - partners within the framework of the Stability Pact, established with the EC support and participation. Since its establishment BSREC has been working on energy projects and initiatives related to the regional development (regional energy market, energy supply security, energy efficiency, etc.). REITC would be able to build on the existing organization and could use the already available facilities - premises, equipment, database, contacts established throughout the years. This would facilitate the REITC in starting functioning right after its establishment.

4. 4 REITC IN SOFIA  Sofia is close to the geographic centre of the region whose strengthening is an objective of the Stability Pact.  Bulgaria has intensive and long-standing relations in the energy industry with all the other countries in the SEE region.  Bulgaria is a reliable electricity producer and exporter, covering more than half (between 50%-100%) of the total power deficit in the other countries within the region, whose importance as a transit country for natural gas and electricity will continue to grow due to its geographic situation  Bulgaria developed and presented to the PHLG in March 2003 a proposal for establishing in Sofia of a SEE Regional Technical Coordination Centre with objectives, tasks and scope of activities similar to the ones of REITC.

5. 5 FUNDING - INITIAL STAGE 4Bulgaria is commited to covering part of the costs relative to the establishment and core activities of the Centre during its first year of operation. The amount that Bulgaria would contribute to cover the relevant costs is approximately Euro 300 000, to be spent for:  Providing the premises as well as the available office equipment of the BSREC to the newly established Centre;  Covering the rent of the premises and part of the equipment costs and the support staff salaries;  Financing part of operational costs during the first year of the REITC operation.

6. 6 APPROACH FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT 4Based on the Conclusions of the PHLG meeting held on 23 September 2004, Bulgaria submits the following proposal regarding the selection procedure and financing of the REITC staff at the initial stage: 1 Selection of a Director of the REITC in Sofia:  A Director of the REITC shall be appointed following an open international competition.  Energy experts from all the SEE countries – Parties to the ECSEE Treaty, shall be eligible to participate in the competition.  The applicants for the Director’s position shall be energy policy experts with at least 8-year international technical, managerial, legal and/or economic experience in the European energy sector issues and profound knowledge of energy cooperation initiatives in South-East Europe, particularly in the process of establishing the ECSEE  Based on a proposal of the European Commission, PHLG shall appoint a Selection Committee of 5 chaired by the a.i. Director of the Secretariat, which shall select the Director of the REITC.

7. 7 PROCEDURE 2. PHLG, the Director a. i. of the Secretariat and representatives of donors co-financing the REITC shall be acting as Centre Monitoring Committee (CMC); 3. Selection of the operating team of REITC  The designated Director of REITC assisted by the Selection Committee shall select the REITC expert team through an open competition announced in Internet, for which experts from all the countries – Parties to the ECSEE except from the country of the REITC Director are eligible.  At the initial stage it is suggested not to have more than one expert from a country – Party to the ECSEE. Experts in the REITC shall be interchangeable to a high degree.  The REITC Director assisted by the Selection Committee shall evaluate and make the final selection out of the submitted applications on the basis of the relevant qualification and experience criteria. Subsequently, the list of the selected candidates shall be submitted for approval by the CMC.

8. 8 INNITIAL STAFF OF REITC (1) Expert staff – 4 people:  Director/energy policy expert;  Energy database and statistics expert;  Energy investment projects appraisal expert;  LAN manager/web designer. The experts shall have at least 3 years experience in the energy sector in the respective area except for the Director of the REITC who shall have at least 8 years experience

9. 9 INNITIAL STAFF OF REITC (2) Support staff – 4 people:  Office manager;  Accountant/financial officer;  Secretary/translator;  Coordinator of the working groups’ meetings. The support staff is also expected to have at least 1-2 years experience in the energy sector. As they will be local staff, their salaries will be covered by the Bulgarian side. All staff members shall be fluent in English. The expert staff shall be able to read and communicate in French.

10. 10  The Bulgarian Government will cover REITC costs of up to EURO 300 000 (to be spent for office rent and maintenance, consumables, office equipment, cars, drivers and local support staff salaries) during the first year of REITC operation. Additional financing is needed for the expert staff only. Suggestions: Option 1  All member states shall contribute equal amounts to raise funds meant to cover the REITC expert staff costs; Option 2  If not all member states agree to contribute, then each state whose expert has been selected to work at the REITC shall cover his/her costs. In case that the contributing states are less than the planned number of expert staff, the constraints over the number of experts from a member state are no more valid and financing of expert staff costs shall be proportional to the participation with own expert staff of the corresponding member state; FUNDING OF REITC INITIAL PHASE (1)

11. 11 Note: In order to ensure a solution in all cases, if none of the other member states is willing to contribute to the financing of the REITC expert staff costs (options 1 and 2), Bulgaria is ready to cover the costs of Bulgarian experts for all the expert staff positions at the REITC. FUNDING OF REITC INITIAL PHASE (2)

12. 12 oIn order to achieve a highest degree of regional ownership over the REITC, its Director shall within 2 weeks after the start of the Centre operation submit to the PHLG for approval a report suggesting how previous regional energy cooperation initiatives shall be taken into account in the REITC activity and incorporated in its objectives and tasks. oThe decision of PHLG for approval shall be taken with a two-thirds majority vote. REGIONAL OWNERSHIP

13. 13 oThe Director of REITC shall submit to the Secretariat and the other CMC members for approval quarterly Financial and Activity Reports. oWithin 2 weeks of the submission of each report, the Secretariat shall submit to CMC comments on the report with a draft decision for its approval or recommended measures to improve the performance of REITC. oThe CMC members shall send to the Secretariat their decision within a week. REPORTING

14. 14 1.Two weeks after having received from the EC a proposal regarding the establishment of the REITC, the PHLG members shall forward to the Secretariat and the Presidency in office their comments regarding the establishment and financing of the REITC in line with the above proposal and their preference for financing option 1 or 2. 2.If the present Bulgarian proposal is accepted, the Bulgarian side shall submit to PHLG and the Secretariat not later than 2 weeks upon signing the ECSEE Treaty a detailed proposal regarding the procedure and the selection criteria, the structure and the financing of the REITC in line with the preliminarily expressed desire of the states to cover the expert staff costs. 3.Not later than 2 weeks upon submission of the Bulgarian detailed proposal, the members of the PHLG shall present their comments and confirm their willingness to cover the costs of their expert/s (in line with financing option 1 or 2); SUGGESTED TIMETABLE (1)

15. 15 4.Not later than 3 weeks upon receipt of the PHLG comments, the Bulgarian side jointly with the EC and the Secretariat shall develop the final proposal regarding the procedure and selection criteria, the structure and financing of the REITC and forward it to the PHLG for approval; 5.Not later than 2 weeks upon submission of the final proposal, a meeting of the PHLG shall be tabled, at which the proposal regarding the procedure and selection criteria, the structure and financing of the REITC shall be adopted by PHLG. 6.Not later than 1 week after the procedure and selection criteria, the structure and financing of the REITC are adopted by the PHLG, a Selection Committee based on a proposal by the EC and chaired by the Director of the Secretariat shall be appointed by the PHLG and an open international competition (of 5 weeks duration) based on documents shall be announced at the ECSEE web site under which the applications will be submitted to the Selection Committee; 7.Not later than 1 week upon receiving the applications, the Selection Committee shall make a ranking of the applicants based on the approved criteria. SUGGESTED TIMETABLE (2)

16. 16 8.Not later than 1 week upon submission of the ranking of the applicants by the Selection Committee, the latter shall prepare a Draft Evaluation Report for the selection of a Director and submit it to the PHLG for approval. 9.Not later than 1 week upon receipt of the Selection’s Committee Draft Evaluation Report, the PHLG members shall send to the Secretariat their approval or comment on the report; 10.Not later than 1 week upon receipt of the PHLG comments on the Evaluation Report, the Selection Committee shall finalize the report and announce the final selection of the Director of the REITC; 11.One day after the submission of the Draft Evaluation Report for the selection of the Director, an open international competition (of 4 weeks duration) for the selection of expert staff based on documents shall be announced at the ECSEE web site. The applications will be submitted to the Selection Committee and subsequently forwarded to the Director as well as to the PHLG members; SUGGESTED TIMETABLE (3)

17. 17 12. One day after the submission of the Draft Evaluation Report for the selection of the Director, the Bulgarian side shall announce at the MEER official web site an open competition for the selection of local support staff. 13. Not later than 2 weeks after the announcement at the MEER official web site of the competition for the selection of local support staff, the Bulgarian side shall submit for approval by the Director the short listed support staff applicants. 14. Not later than 1 week upon expiration of the application period for the expert staff, the Director assisted by the Selection Committee shall prepare the final list of the selected expert staff and local support staff and forward it for approval by the CMC; 15. Not later than 2 weeks upon submission for approval of the list of the proposed experts and local support staff by the CMC consequently a meeting of the latter will be scheduled with the REITC staff selected by the Director and the Selection Committee for final approval of the selected experts and local support staff; SUGGESTED TIMETABLE (4)

18. 18 SUGGESTED TIMETABLE (5) 16. The REITC will start operating not later than 2 weeks upon confirmation of the final approval of the expert and local support staff by the PHLG (estimated date – 2 May 2005). 17. Not later than 2 weeks upon the start of the Centre operation its Director shall submit to the PHLG for approval a report suggesting how all previous regional energy initiatives shall be taken into account by the REITC and incorporated into its objectives and tasks. Quarterly Financial and Activity Reports shall be submitted by the Director to the Secretariat and the other CMC members for approval.

19. 19 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Contacts: Vladimir Stariradev – stariradev@doe.bg