The Chinese language will become a new option in Bulgaria's state official training project from 2006, announced Vice Minister of Administration Buzhka Lukich at an official training seminar held in Pamporovo on Sunday.

Lukich said that from 2006 the Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Greek and Dutch languages, which are important in the international and regional contact, will become the new options in the country's state official training project.

The project aims at improving professional skills and culture of the civil servants, who will be enabled to speak the native languages of the investors and partners entering Bulgaria and form a favorite investing atmosphere, revealed Lukich.

According to Minister of Administration Nikolai Vasilev, in 2005 alone, 5,000 state officials have finished their English language courses, 2,000 succeeded in French and another 700 is going to pass a computer training.

But there will be still a 10 percent-staff-reduction in the coming year, the competition in the team of the state officials remains tough, underlined Vasilev.

An latest sociological research shows that 18 percent of the Bulgarian state officials speak only Bulgarian, 31 percent master Russian, 35 percent speak Russian and English, while 16 percent speak more than 3 foreign languages. About 82 percent of the state employees have never participated in professional training of any form.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2005)