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Gender equality is a priority for the Presidency trio - Estonia - Bulgaria - Austria.Our ambition is to contribute during the Bulgarian Presidency to the progress of this issue. This was said by Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Biser Petkov, during today's meeting with Virginia Langbak, director of the European Institute for Gender Equality. The meeting, which took place at the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, was also attended by Deputy Minister Zornitsa Rusinova.

Minister Petkov pointed out that an emphasis in the debate on gender equality would be the topic of women in the digital world. According to Eurostat, Bulgaria ranks first in the EU in terms of women's participation in the field of information and communication technologies. In our country their share is 27% of the employed in the sector, while in the EU it is 16%.

The opportunities for cooperation between the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the European Institute for Gender Equality during the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU were on the agenda. Emphasis was placed on the need to develop measures to encourage girls to study information and communication technologies in order to be more competitive in the labour market and to have better chances and career development.

The opportunities offered by the European Social Fund support were discussed after the end of the current 2014-2020 programming period for investment in human capital and the development of social infrastructure.