On 1 July 2024 in the city of Baku, under the co-chairmanship of the Acting Minister of Energy Mr. Vladimir Malinov and Mr. Mejnun Mammadov, Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the VI meeting of the Bulgarian-Azerbaijani Intergovernmental Commission for Economic cooperation was held. Ambassador Ruslan Stoyanov participated in the meeting as part of the Bulgarian delegation.

The delegations, composed of 40 representatives of ministries and other institutions, discussed a wide range of issues from various areas of the bilateral economic cooperation - economy, trade, agriculture, transport, tourism, defense, intellectual property, etc. Further expansion of the Investment cooperation and the Energy partnership between the two countries, were among the main highlights of the talks.

The existence of a significant unrealized potential for strengthening the economic cooperation between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan was noted during the meeting. Mutual desire was expressed to find opportunities to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas of mutual interest, within the framework of the established Strategic partnership and dialogue between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijani side highlighted the role of jointly organized business forums as well as the regular exchange of information on export-oriented and competitive products, as well as mutual activity within the framework of international exhibitions to strengthen cooperation between business circles. The Bulgarian side expressed its desire to use the available opportunities for cooperation with Azerbaijan in all areas of mutual interest.

In his speech, Minister Malinov emphasized that Azerbaijan is a long-standing strategic partner of Bulgaria. Long-term economic cooperation has been established between the two countries, and the energy sector has a key role in the bilateral relations. Azerbaijan plays an important role in ensuring the diversification of natural gas supplies and, accordingly, in increasing energy security in Europe, and the Bulgarian side is interested in receiving and transiting additional quantities of natural gas from Azerbaijan on the basis of long-term contracts. "Thanks to our well-developed gas transmission infrastructure, the Bulgarian side can receive additional supplies that will increase energy security not only in Bulgaria, but also in the entire region of Central and South-Eastern Europe," Minister Malinov pointed out during the meeting.

Regarding the cooperation on the project to create a Green Energy Corridor, which was also at the center of the discussions, Minister Malinov informed that during the previous week the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria approved the participation of our country through the “Bulgarian Energy Holding” and its subsidiary companies in the implementation of the project.

The two sides expressed confidence that the Sixth Meeting of the Bulgaria-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation will provide an additional incentive for the development of the cooperation between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of Azerbaijan in the priority areas, including for the implementation of future joint projects in the energy sector.

A Protocol was signed on the results of the VI meeting of the Bulgarian-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation.

The parties agreed that the VII meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission would be held in Bulgaria in 2025.