The Government proposes to support the WEBIT International Exhibition by paying the rental amount of BGN 350 000 for the National Palace of Culture, chosen by the WEBIT Foundation to host the exhibition.
In January this year, the Council of Ministers entrusted the organisation of the participation of the Republic of Bulgaria as an official partner of the WEBIT International Exhibition to the Ministry of Economy and Industry, the Ministry of Innovation and Growth and the Ministry of Education and Science. In February, additional expenditures of BGN 4 700 000 were approved for this purpose in the budget of the three ministries.
Representatives of the three ministries today held a meeting with the WEBIT organisers at which it was discussed that the funds to be spent from the state budget should be reduced. An official response from the organisers is awaited.
The change in the planned state partnership for the exhibition is necessary due to the ambiguity regarding the initial concept of organising the participation of the Republic of Bulgaria and the related difficulties regarding the commitments made by the three responsible institutions.
So far, no documentation has been received from the WEBIT Foundation containing specific technical parameters for the refinement of the individual activities, which makes it difficult to organize the country’s participation and prevents the justified expenditure of state funds of such a scale.
The exhibition is included in the draft 2024 calendar of the Brand Bulgaria initiative, and the overall vision for its promotion within this calendar has not been developed and spelled out. At present, the Brand Bulgaria initiative has been discontinued, which made it necessary to reconsider the need for state funding of this magnitude for the event.
The decision of the Council of Ministers at the beginning of the year provided for each of the three ministries to conclude contracts for the rental of space for the construction of three stands, with the funds amounting to BGN 350 000 for an area of 500 square metres and BGN 700 000 for an area of 1 000 square metres respectively. These amounts were planned to be paid out of the NPC rental funds. This contradicts all the statutory requirements and rules for the expenditure of public funds and does not imply the independent rental of space by the three departments, especially as the amounts do not include the construction of a stand and its interior design. It is also not clear whether the WEBIT Foundation has included other commitments in the amounts indicated.
Another commitment assigned to the Ministries of Innovation and Growth and of Education and Science by the January decision is the purchase of a total of 4 500 tickets for participation in the Forum, including pupils, teachers and students. In addition to organisational hurdles due to the disruption of the school process in October, the organiser is offering a ticket price for the event of £500.
Along with providing exhibition space and renting the NPC, according to the same decision the Ministry of Economy and Industry had to provide video equipment, furniture, printed materials, transport, hotel accommodation and catering. The provision of the activities is planned to amount to BGN 700 000.