The monitoring committee of the European Union's cross-border co-operation programme for Romania and Bulgaria held its first meeting in Rousse on April 15 2008, Bulgaria's Regional Development Ministry said in a statement.

Local authorities from the two countries are set to receive 262 million euro over the period 2007/13 under the programme approved by the European Commission in December 2007.

The bulk of the funding, 217.8 million euro, will come from the European Regional Development Fund, with the governments of the two countries providing another 42.6 million euro and the rest coming from private companies.

The main goals of the programme are improved access to transport infrastructure in the cross-border area; sustainable use and protection of natural resources and environment; economic development and social by identifying and enhancing the cross-border area's comparative advantages; and technical assistance for project preparation, programme management and implementation, as well as programme publicity and evaluation.

Potential beneficiaries include local authorities, associations of municipalities, non-governmental organisations and research institutions.

The cross-border co-operation programme covers nine Bulgarian regions - Vidin, Vratsa, Montana, Pleven, Veliko Turnovo, Rousse, Silistra, Dobrich and Razgrad - and seven Romanian counties - Mehedinti, Dolj, Olt, Teleorman, Giurgiu, Calarasi and Constanta. The area covered contains 15 per cent of Romania's population and 23.7 per cent of Bulgaria's population.

Bulgaria has similar EU-funded cross-border programmes with Greece, Turkey, Serbia and Macedonia.