Bulgaria and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have signed a memorandum of understanding under which the bank will help the government prepare public-private partnership projects, the economy ministry said. Deputy prime minister and economy minister Aleksandar Pulev and EBRD vice-president Mark Bowman signed the deal.

The bank's help will cover how projects are structured, including feasibility studies, early research and risk planning. The goal is to design projects so they can combine private money with EU funds.

The new approach will apply to the biggest projects in energy, industrial zones, transport and other large sites.

"We want to play an active role in modernising the country's infrastructure through public-private partnerships. We believe this is the way forward," Pulev said. He called the EBRD the gold standard among development banks and in international finance.

He said several industrial zones have already been picked out for expansion, and officials are now looking at ways to support them, including EU grant money. He pointed to the Dobroslavtsi industrial zone as a project with potential. If structured properly, combining public and private money and drawing in big investors, it could pave the way for high-tech industry and boost growth in the area, he said.

Bowman said public-private partnerships are a good way to bring private capital into infrastructure projects, and a centralised approach matters for getting more projects done. "We believe this is an excellent way to attract the much-needed private investment into infrastructure here in Bulgaria," he said.

The new legal framework for public-private partnerships has already been drafted and is in the final stage of public consultation. Pulev said the aim is a competitive, predictable and balanced setup that protects the public interest while drawing in private capital, adding that the framework is part of the government's plan to speed up investment.

In mid-September, prime minister Rumen Radev, transport minister Georgi Peev and regional development minister Ivan Shishkov set out a new approach to transport infrastructure involving the private sector. Radev said at the time that the way Bulgaria builds major infrastructure needs to change. The state should not rely only on public money and EU funds, he said. Instead, it should use public-private partnerships and concessions — classic concessions, deferred-payment contracts and mixed concessions.