The State Secretary in the Finance Ministry, Alfred Finz, met the Bulgarian Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski in Sofia on Monday. The main topics of discussion were the Austrian Presidency and regional policy issues. Finz and Oresharski were in agreement that the level of financial resources alone was not decisive in regional policy, but that particular attention should be devoted to the efficiency with which these resources were used.
State Secretary Finz had first given a speech at the international finance conference "Finance and Banking Modernisation in Central and South East Europe". Representatives from ten countries - experts from the world of politics, banking, finance, the IT sector and investors – discussed the latest developments in the financial sector, the modernisation of the banking sector, foreign investors and privatisation in Central and South-East Europe. In his speech, Finz talked about the privatisation of state enterprises in Austria.