On 21 December 2025, Dr. Marina Belcheva will deliver a guest lecture at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration on the topic: “Concessions as an Alternative to Non-Repayable Financing from European Funds and Programmes and as a Tool for Attracting Private Investment”.

In a context of limited public resources and constantly growing needs for infrastructure development, public services, and strategic assets, concessions are emerging as a key mechanism for implementing projects of public interest. Traditionally, Bulgarian institutions rely on non-repayable European funding as the main source of financing. However, the exhaustion of operational programme limits, competition for resources, and the requirement for pre-secured national co-financing bring the need for alternative funding mechanisms to the forefront.

Dr. Belcheva holds a Master’s degree in Law from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and a PhD in Economics from the University of National and World Economy, with a dissertation titled “A Project Management Model for the Use of Natural Resources”. Since 2000, she has been a lawyer with the Sofia Bar Association and is the founder and managing director of the consultancy firms “Lega Corp” Ltd. and “Project Management” Ltd., specialising in the management of investment projects. She has been a member of the Managing Board of the Bulgarian Association for Groundwater since 2010, uniting experts in the field of mineral water.

She has served as an external evaluator of project proposals under the Operational Programme “Environment 2007–2013” and Sofia Municipality’s “Europe” Programme, as well as an external expert to the Public Procurement Agency, the Managing Authority of the Operational Programme “Regional Development 2007–2013” and the Standing Committee on European Programmes, Projects and International Cooperation of the Sofia Municipal Council.

In recent years, she has specialised in the areas of concessions, public procurement, irregularities and financial corrections, and the management of investment projects related to natural resource utilisation.