Minister Zaharieva: Bringing Gas to Bulgaria’s Homes Will Improve Air Quality
31 October 2018 News
“The fact that only 3 % of the Bulgarian households have gas and our desire to work for improving air quality create serious potential for Azerbaijani investments in Bulgaria,” Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said in comments made during a press conference with her Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov on the idea of participation by Azerbaijan in bringing the gas transmission network to the Bulgarian households. This opportunity was discussed first by the two countries’ Prime Ministers during Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s visit to Baku at the beginning of the year.
“There will be an additional development on top of the deliveries of natural gas to Bulgaria that are due to begin in 2020,” Minister Mammadyarov said. He pointed out that the Azerbaijani company SOCAR has very substantial experience in gasification and confirmed that the Bulgarian Government has demonstrated interest in this respect. Elmar Mammadyarov is on an official visit to Bulgaria during which he held talks with the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, and the Ministers of Energy and Transport.
The Azerbaijani guest and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva opened the first session of the two countries’ Strategic Dialogue. It was agreed upon in 2015 and its goal is to develop and expand the relations between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan in various spheres.
“We discussed economic, energy, transport, and other issues today,” Minister Zaharieva told the media. “We agreed to utilize the enormous potential that we have not fully made use of.” She added that trade between the two countries is growing constantly and in 2017 the trade exchange was 48% higher than in the preceding year.
In congratulating her colleague on the launching of the Strategic Dialogue’s practical activities, she went on to add that Bulgaria also finds it very important that the strategic partnership agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU should be finalized as soon as possible. “We hope that this will be done before next year’s European Parliament elections,” Minister Zaharieva said.
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