The US government through the Department of State, in collaboration with the Bulgarian Government, the Bulgarian President's Council for Information Technologies and Internews Network is sponsoring a conference on regional cyber-security cooperation for South East Europe in Sofia, Bulgaria on September 8-9, 2003, and under the aegis of Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.

The conference will introduce participating governments, magistrates (judges, investigators, law-enforcement agents) to the various component aspects of cyber-security and what is required to organize on a national and regional level to protect critical information infrastructures.

Information Bulletin

1.Venue and Date

The cyber-securityconference will be held on September 8 - 9, 2003 at the Boyana Governmental Residence in Sofia, Bulgaria. Located 6 km south of the center of Sofia at the base of the Vitosha mountain. It is a widely recognized landmark and all taxi drivers know the location. There will be wireless access in the meeting hall and around it, as well as several LAN cables. There will be also 5 PC for participants to use Sept. 7-10. The hotel has fax/phone/copy machine.

2.Coordination

The coordinator from Bulgaria is Mr. Veni Markovski, Chairman of the Information Technologies Council with the President of the Republic of Bulgaria. Tel: +359-2-980-2334, mobile: +359-888-516-359, veni@veni.com

In the country you may also contact Mr. Dimitar Penkov, advisor to the Minister of State Administration, phone +359-2-9402717
The contact points for the U.S. Department of State are Mr. Dusty Rhoads, tel: 202.647.9095 and Mr. Josh Hanson, tel: 202.647.5090.

3.Visas

Please contact the nearest Bulgarian Embassy or Consulate to determine visa requirements for entry into Bulgaria. U.S. participants with official or diplomatic passports must obtain a visa from the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

4.Check-in


Participants may check-in for the conference on Sunday, September 7th between 16:00 and 20:00 or on Monday, September 8th between 8:00 am and 9:00 am in the lobby of the Boyana residence to receive conference materials and name tags.

5.Accommodations / Meals

Reservations will be made for all sponsored participants and speakers at the Boyana residency. Detailed information regarding accommodations will be sent via email two weeks prior to the conference. All lunches and dinners are being taken care of by the organizers. Breakfast will be served in Boyana.

6.Distance from airport to Boyana

The Boyana Residence is located approximately 15 km from Sofia Airport. There are many taxis available at the airport. Prices are negotiable and all taxis are safe. Participants may use also rental cars and there is a parking place at the Residence.
NOTE: there will be someone from the organizers, waiting for each participants, arriving by airplane. The person will wait in front of the airplane, in a small blue bus. Please, approach them and they will have your name in a list, so that you can proceed. However the organizers need to have information about arrival time/date/airways. Please, send this information to conference2003@isoc.bg

7.Languages, discussions and documents

There will be simultaneous interpretation into English and Bulgarian only. All documents distributed during the conference will be in English. English is official language for the conference.

8.Weather

It is summer in Sofia at the time of the conference. The temperature in Sofia ranges between 25° - 33° C. Please refer to cnn.com or http://www.weather.com for more details.

9.Local Time

GMT + 03:00 Sofia (Washington, DC + 7 hrs).

10.Electrical Current

The electrical current is 220 volts, 50 cycles