The Industrial Association - Veliko Tarnovo, in partnership with the Constanta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Navigation and Agriculture – CCINA Constanta (Romania) and the Bulgarian Industrial Association - Union of Bulgarian Business, have started the implementation of the project "Building a sustainable model and partner network to support employment and labour mobility in the cross border area Bulgaria-Romania" under the INTEREGG program for the total amount of € 593,492.79, of which € 504,468.87 are are funded by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund, ERDF).

The project's main objective is to promote labor mobility in key economic sectors in the cross-border area Bulgaria-Romania by creating conditions for balance between supply and demand on the labor market.

The project targets:

• The active population - over 2 million people;
• Inactive population and unemployed persons in the cross-border area Bulgaria-Romania - approximately 400 000 persons;
• Private companies - no less than 500

The project includes the following activities:

• Identification of key economic sectors with potential for labor mobility in the cross-border area;
• Development of competent catalogs of the selected enterprises with a description of the basic knowledge, skills, competencies required by the employers;
• Development of e-tools for competence assessment;
• Conducting a survey of at least 300 target group representatives on employment opportunities;
• Development and implementation of e-trainings for at least 300 representatives of the target group;
• Conducting trainings for HR specialists from Bulgaria and Romania in order to improve their skills for selecting the labor force on the other side of the border;
• Awareness raising campaign on employment opportunities in the cross-border region Bulgaria - Romania;
• Development and maintenance of a common database with useful information for the employees and the employers on both sides of the border.

The implementation of the project will create conditions for promoting labor mobility in the region through the creation and development of sustainable jobs, better conditions for career development and more recruitment opportunities.

The project is envisaged to finish in 2019.