Bulgaria will submit its rural development programme for approval by the European Commission by the end of March, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Nihat Kabil said at the opening of a conference on УPartnership Forum for Implementing Rural Development Programme, reports BTA.

The national strategic plan for rural development in 2007-2013, worth 3,242 million euros (2,609 million euros provided by EU and 633 million euros national co-financing), has been approved by the Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate General, Kabil said.

He recalled the strategic goals of the programme: competitive agriculture, which accounts for 42 per cent of the total budget; environmental protection, 27 per cent; and employment in farming, 31 per cent.

Once the rural development programme is approved by the European Commission, the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry will open a procedure for the formation of local leader groups under the LEADER approach with a large-scale awareness campaign, Kabil said.

During the discussion, Jose Manuel Sousa Uva, Director in the Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate General, said that Bulgaria has stricken a balance in the allocation of financial resources to the three strategic goals. The EC official said that under the Rural Development programme Bulgaria is to get six times more funds than what it received under SAPARD in the pre-accession period.

The Thursday forum took place within a mission of the Agriculture and Rural Development Directorate General which ends on Friday.