site.btaPresident Radev Meets with Greek Foreign Minister Gerapetritis

Meeting with Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, President Rumen Radev said Bulgaria seeks comprehensive development of the region's transport and energy connectivity as a key factor of stability in Southeastern Europe, the President's press secretariat said. Greece's chief diplomat is paying an official visit to Sofia on Tuesday.

The sides emphasized the importance of the strategic partnership between Bulgaria and Greece. Radev and Gerapetritis stressed that the active and constructive high- and top-level dialogue between the two countries is a prerequisite for deepening cooperation in all areas of shared interest.

It is not just the Bulgarian and Greek economies, but also the entire region that is interested in improving the South-North transport, energy and digital infrastructure, Radev said. He highlighted the importance of joint projects for building an oil pipeline between Alexandroupolis and Burgas, increasing natural gas transit to Europe through the Greece-Bulgaria Gas Interconnector, expanding the Chiren gas storage facility, speeding up a project to build a NATO oil pipeline from Greece to Bulgaria and Romania, extending the railway networks, and opening the Rudozem-Xanthi border checkpoint as soon as possible. Radev confirmed Bulgaria's interest in participating in the management of the ports of Kavala and Alexandroupolis. The current importance of trilateral infrastructure projects involving Greece, Bulgaria and Romania in the context of regional and global challenges was also discussed.

Radev thanked Greece for its consistent support for Bulgaria's full Schengen accession and the lifting of land-border controls.