Deputy prime minister and economy minister Alexander Pulev has signed a memorandum of understanding with Mark Bowman, vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the economy ministry said. The deal sets up a mechanism to prepare public-private partnerships.

"We want public-private partnerships to become a tool for modernizing infrastructure and pulling in extra private money," Pulev said.

Under the memorandum, the EBRD will help prepare and structure projects so they blend private money with EU funds. The work covers pre-project studies, feasibility checks, risk structuring and getting projects ready to build. The ministry called the signing another step in widening the partnership between Bulgaria and the bank.

Pulev called the EBRD the "gold standard" among development banks and in international finance. He said the ministry wants to play an active role in renewing infrastructure through such partnerships and sees them as the way forward.

The new legal framework for public-private partnerships is ready and is now in its final round of public consultation. Pulev said it should give these projects a competitive, predictable and balanced setup — one that protects the public interest while still drawing in private capital. The move is part of the government's wider push for faster investment and infrastructure renewal.

The new mechanism will be used to prepare priority projects in energy, industrial zones, transport and other infrastructure. The deputy prime minister pointed to the Dobroslavtsi industrial zone as an example. If the project is structured right, he said, mixing public money with private and strategic investors, it could open new opportunities for high-tech industry and for developing the area.

Several industrial zones have also been chosen for expansion. The ministry is looking at ways to support this, including non-repayable EU grants.

Bowman said public-private partnerships are a good way to draw private money into infrastructure projects, and a centralized approach matters most for getting more projects off the ground. "We believe this is an excellent way to attract much-needed private investment into infrastructure here in Bulgaria," he said.

Prime minister Rumen Radev, transport minister Georgi Peev and regional development minister Ivan Shishkov presented a new approach to transport infrastructure in mid-September, with the private sector involved from start to finish. The old way of building major infrastructure has to change, Radev said at the time — it cannot rest only on budget money and EU funds. He said Bulgaria also needs to look at public-private partnerships, classic concessions, deferred-payment contracts and mixed concessions.