NEWS

Presidents Rosen Plevneliev and Klaus Iohannis Called on for Overcoming the Energy Dependence of Southeastern Europe

Energy dependence is the major weakness of Southeastern Europe and building a state-of-the-art energy infrastructure and connecting the gas-transit and electricity networks should be a common priority.  This was the position shared by Rosen Plevneliev and Klaus Iohannis, who held talks at 2 Dondukov street today. President of Romania Klaus Iohannis is on a two-day official visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of the Bulgarian Head of State. At the meeting the two Heads of State reiterated the importance of raising the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Romania to the level of strategic partnership.   

The Bulgarian Head of State said that it is extremely important for our country to have the interconnector with Romania commissioned as soon as possible and that it  should be a reverse-flow one. Thus the inter-systemic gas connection is part of the future energy corridor along the North-South axis and within his visit,  President Iohannis will visit the construction site near the Bulgarian town of Marten.  “The implementation of the South Gas Corridor and the inter-systemic connection with the neighboring countries provide the only opportunity for Southeastern Europe to improve its energy security in a short-term perspective,” President Plevneliev was adamant.

The Danube bridge 2 road infrastructure upgrade, speeding up the work on the construction of new bridges and also on the hydroelectric complexes along the Danube river, are among the projects that are important for the economic exchange in the region, it emerged at the news conference.

Romania is among our country’s top three foreign-trade partners and Bulgaria will continue to encourage the contacts between the businesses in the two countries, Rosen Plevneliev said. The two presidents will open a Bulgarian-Romanian business forum in the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry today. The bilateral trade amounted to 3.7 billion euros in 2015. 1,600 Romanian companies operate in Bulgaria, and 1,900 Bulgarian companies – in Romania.

“The exchange of tourists is also on the rise – the Romanian tourists in Bulgaria reached one million in 2015, which means that Romania ranks first according to this indicator,” President Plevneliev said.  More than 330,000 Bulgarian tourists visited Romania in 2015.

Bulgaria and Romania are factors of stability and security in Eastern Europe and they will strengthen their partnership in the sphere, and also in the fight against terrorism, it emerged at the news conference given by the two presidents. The changed security environment in the region, which is the result of the Ukrainian crisis, makes it necessary to focus on the strategic importance of the Black Sea region for formulating and implementing the EU and NATO policies. Both Rosen Plevneliev and Klaus Iohannis welcomed the decision made by the US on the dislocation of naval units in the Black Sea within the European initiative for guaranteeing the security of the allies in Europe. “Bulgaria will support the establishment of a NATO staff center and a multinational framework brigade in Romania. We expect that a decision to this effect will be made at the NATO Summit in Warsaw,” President Plevneliev said. The Head of State recalled the position declared by Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev that Bulgaria is ready to contribute up to 400 servicemen for training and exercises on a rotating basis.

The two presidents shared the position that overcoming the migration crisis requires that the EU pursues a more active policy in the regions which the migrants mainly come from. “The agreement with Turkey is an important step towards finding a sustainable solution of the migration crisis. It is important that the pragmatic dialogue with Turkey on implementing the agreement continues,” President Plevneliev said. The Head of State further added that the focus should be laid on improving the security along the external borders and explicitly said that the external EU borders do not come down only to Schengen. Not allowing a redirection of the migration flows is of key importance.  
 
The two Presidents highlighted the good cooperation between Bulgaria and Romania on the issue of lifting the visa regime for the two countries by the US and Canada and voiced their expectation that this issue will be soon resolved.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev awarded Klaus Iohannis the Stara Planina state order with ribbon for his contribution to the development of the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Romania.