Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said after talks with President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy in Brussels today that Serbia eagerly awaits the beginning of the process of ratification of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union (EU).

Cvetkovic said that 2009 was a very successful year for Serbia in terms of European integration and that it will do everything to continue the reform process, including the completion of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The probe of the Transport Ministry had discovered serious violations committed at the Bulgarian State Railroad Company, BDZ, between 2007 and September 2009.

Transport Minister, Alexander Tsvetkov, reported that over BGN 127 mln have been lost, calling the waste of resources a “total disgrace.”

The most striking example is a public order, signed in 2008 by the former BDZ Head Hristo Monov, for the delivery of 30 sleeping cars from Switzerland. 18 of the cars, for which EUR 14 mln have been paid, are missing and no one knows their location. 12 cars were delivered but 6 are already out of use over malfunctions. The Prosecutor has been notified, Tsvetkov says.

Mehmet Şimşek The Central Bank of Turkey said on Thursday that a jump in inflation in February stemmed primarily from rising vegetable prices due to cold weather but added that while these prices are expected to return to normal levels, inflation is not expected to decrease significantly until the last months of the year owing to the base effect.

In a report released on Thursday, the bank attributed a 1.45 percent increase seen in the consumer price index (CPI) in February, which put annual inflation at 10.13 percent, to temporary factors such as rising unprocessed food prices due to decreasing temperatures, tax adjustments and the base effect. The bank foresaw unprocessed food prices returning to normal levels partly in March but did not anticipate seeing a major drop in inflation until the last months of the year, as the base effect is anticipated to persist throughout 2010.