In May of this year, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) will open its office in Bulgaria. This is a sign of the serious intentions to deepen cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy.
This was stated by President Rumen Radev after a video conference call with his colleague Ilham Aliyev, which took place in Baku, announced the press office of the head of state.
The opening of a SOCAR office was agreed upon during Aliyev’s visit to Sofia last year. Today, the two presidents discussed the course of its preparation.
From the Azerbaijani side, serious interest has been shown in the Solidarity Ring (String) project initiated by Bulgaria, which allows the transfer of additional quantities of natural gas to Europe from Azerbaijan, using the existing infrastructure of gas transmission networks of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia.
The president has invited his Azerbaijani counterpart to visit Sofia in the coming months to negotiate Azerbaijan’s accession to the project.
“Through the interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria, we are already receiving the full amount of Azeri gas under very good conditions for Bulgaria, but this is only the beginning,” said Rumen Radev.
Bulgaria and Azerbaijan are already working on the possibilities for Bulgarian companies that work on gas to receive the fuel from Azerbaijan under extremely favorable conditions, and together with Azerbaijan to export the finished product to third markets.
“Political dialogue at the highest political level is an important condition for deepening our cooperation in all areas of mutual interest, not only energy,” pointed out Rumen Radev. He added that after President Aliyev’s visit to Sofia last year, progress was made to expand trade and economic ties. Partnerships in the field of high technologies and production with high added value are extremely promising – unmanned aerial systems, the automotive sector, the defense industry, oil refining, transport, satellite space equipment.
“I believe that the high ambitions of our two countries meet precisely in cooperation in these sectors, and we will continue to develop it,” the president pointed out.
The conversation between Presidents Rumen Radev and Ilham Aliyev took place via video conference after the Bulgarian head of state tested positive for Covid-19.