site.btaBulgarian Finance Minister Confers with Greek State Minister

Emerging from a meeting with Greece’s State Minister Stavros Papastavrou here on Monday, Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said that Greece supports Bulgaria's full membership in the Schengen area, that is, the opening of the land borders, as well as this country’s joining the euro area, which is expected to happen on January 1, 2025. Vassilev described his meeting with Papastavrou as very productive. He added that the highlights of the discussions were connectivity and transport corridors between the two countries.

Papastavrou said that Monday’s meeting was a continuation of the meeting between Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which focused on the deepening of bilateral relations between the two countries. "Greece and Bulgaria not only enjoy very good neighbourly relations, but they also serve as pillars of security in the region," Papastavrou said, adding that bilateral cooperation in energy, especially in the South-North corridor, is being promoted. In his words, this opens new corridors for interconnectivity and improves infrastructure in Europe.

Papastavrou was confident in the potential of Bulgarian-Greek relations.