site.btaPrime Minister Borissov Meets with Greek Foreign Minister Kotzias

Prime Minister Borissov Meets with Greek Foreign Minister Kotzias

Sofia, May 31 (BTA) - The Bulgarian government prioritizes the diversification of natural gas sources and routes and the construction of interconnectors with its neighbouring countries, said Prime Minister Boyko Borissov at a meeting with visiting Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias Tuesday.

Kotzias is taking part in a meeting of foreign minsters within the South-East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP).

Borissov underscored the strategic importance of the project for Bulgaria, Greece and the entire Southeast European region. He recalled that in order to show its commitment to the project the Bulgarian government increased the state guarantee from 80 million to 110 million euro in the 2016 budget. The Prime Minister noted the efforts by the Greek government to put in place all conditions for the implementation of the gas interconnector.

Borissov and Kotzias noted that with the signing of the Final Investment Decision in late 2015 the project transitioned to the construction phase and is expected to begin operation in mid-2018. The Prime Minister briefed his guest that in June the second phase of the interconnector's market test will begin for the submission of binding offers. The first phase ended in April when nine companies submitted offers to reserve over 4.3 billion cu m of natural gas annually.

During the meeting Prime Minister Borissov and Greek Foreign Minister Kotzias discussed measures taken to control the migrant flow to Europe and problems shared by the two countries as external EU borders. Borissov said that Bulgaria will continue to support the countries most affected by the migrant flow after it provided humanitarian aid to Hungary, Greece, and Macedonia.

Borissov and Kotzias hailed as successful the cooperation between the security services of the two countries and the effect of the police and customs cooperation agreement between Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece signed on May 25. The Prime Minister said that thanks to the common efforts the migratory pressure along the Turkish-Bulgarian border has decreased significantly. He noted the good cooperation and the fast readmission of a group of illegal migrants at the Bulgarian-Greek border.