site.btaBulgaria, Iran Resume Work of Mixed Commissions on Energy and Natural Gas

Bulgaria, Iran Resume Work of Mixed Commissions on Energy and Natural Gas

Tehran/Sofia, March 9 (BTA) - Bulgaria and Iran have agreed that the bilateral commissions on energy and natural will resume work, said the Bulgarian Energy Ministry Wednesday. The agreement was reached during the 18th session of the bilateral intergovernmental commission on economic, technical and scientific cooperation held in Tehran.

During the meeting the two sides discussed bilateral cooperation and mapped out measures for its development in the energy industry. Bulgarian Deputy Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov presented a Bulgarian project for building a gas distribution centre.

The opportunities for supply of Iranian natural gas as an alternative to Russian gas supplies were discussed as well.

The Bulgarian Deputy energy minister met with his Iranian counterpart and the two sides expressed readiness to encourage cooperation between the electricity system operators of the two countries in the area of the hydro-power engineering.

Opportunities for participation of Bulgarian and Iranian companies in tenders for design, construction and supply of equipment in energy projects in both countries were also considered.

During the session of the mixed commission, the two countries expressed a shared interest in cooperation in the gas and oil industry. Iran believes that Bulgaria is a good partner which can open up the way for Iran to the European energy markets, the Economy Ministry said.

Nuclear safety and the atomic energy industry are other promissing areas for cooperation, the Ministry also said. The Bulgarian Deputy Energy Minister met with Iran's Deputy Petroleum Minister for International Affairs and with the Director General for International Affairs of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.

The Bulgarian side offered to share its expertise in the nuclear energy industry built up during the long years of operation of the Kozlodui N-plant.