Within the scope of the Interreg IPA Bulgaria-Türkiye Programme, the assesment process of the project proposals submitted to the call opened for the first time for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Edirne and Kırklareli has been completed.
Within the scope of the call with a budget of 6.6 million Euros, SMEs submitted 41 projects with a total budget of 15,313,695 Euros under the specific objective of energy efficiency and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and promoting the transition to a circular and resource-efficient economy. 16 of these projects were selected to be implemented.
70% of the call of the budget (4.6 Million Euros), has been allocated for promoting energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Under this specific objective, 11 of the 29 project proposals with a total budget of EUR 10,518,673 were selected to be implemented. The remaining 30% of the budget, amounting to approximately 2 million Euros, has been allocated under the specific objective of promoting the transition to a circular and resource-efficient economy. Consequently, 12 project proposals with a total budget of 4.795.022 EUR were submitted. 5 of which were selected to be implemented. The implementation of the projects, with one partner each from Bulgaria and Türkiye, is planned to start in April and will be completed within two years.
The projects will be implemented by companies operating in the food industry, metal processing, IT sector, cosmetics, wood processing, tourism and glass production. Thanks to the projects to be implemented, it is aimed to significantly reduce waste in processing processes. Within the scope of the projects, thermal insulation, windows and lighting of buildings with identified needs will be renewed. On the other hand, energy management systems will be installed so that a large part of the investments will allow optimization of production processes by using modern and innovative technologies. In addition, the projects are expected to increase the competitiveness of the region and contribute to increase sustainability in environmental protection.