Montana Region

The Montana Region is located in the Northwest planning region and is the central part of Northwest Bulgaria with territory 3,618 km2, which is 3.2% of the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. The North part of the region borders the Danube River with natural circumstances for direct links with Romania and other countries on the Danube River. On the Southwest, we are neighbors with the Republic of Serbia and the Sofia Region, to the East - the Vratsa Region, and to the Northwest - the Vidin Region.

The Montana Region has a long, 1000-year history, with many historical and cultural monuments, clear environment and placec for rest and tourism. The geographical situation is suitable for development of the region as a transport, tourist and cultural center.

At the present time, the actual territory division in the region consists of 130 cities and villages distributed in 11 municipalities. The municipalities consist mainly of villages and small towns where people live in the village way of life. The Montana Municipality has a surface area of 647.6 km2 or 18% of the Montana Region, and the city is the administrative center of the region.

During the first millenium B.C., the Thracian tribes settled in the fertile and picturesque valley of the Ogosta River. Part of an ancient Thracian fortress was discovered under the level of the roman fortification in Montana. Around the 4th and 1st century B.C.. a Thracian tribes had settled here. Later on, the Romans captured the region and it became a part of the Roman district called Misia.

On the basis of the geographical characteristics of the region and the economical situation, we can underline the following strengths from the point of view of the possibilities for industrial and agricultural development of the region:

• Suitable geographic position;
• Ecologically clean region;
• Fertile land - potential in agricultural;
• Developed transportation network;
• Good technical base for machine building, construction and building works, sewing, shoe, and food-processing industries.

Based on data from the Regional Statistical Bureau - Montana at the end of 2000, most businesses in the Municipality of Montana are small and micro firms.

90% of the companies employ less than 10 people. Only 54 firms employ over 100 people, which makes up over 86% of the industrial production of the region.

The number of employed people in the Montana Region up to December 31, 2001 was 28,064 people which is a decrease of 9.6% from the end of December 2000. 14,500 of these people are employed in the business sector "Services", 12,001 in the sector "Industries", and 1563 in the sector "Agriculture". Most of the employed people (50.6%) are employed by privately owned companies (50% at the end of December 2000).