After it already held talks with Serbia and Crotia, Bulgaria has also approached Macedonia with an offer for a share in the future Belene Nuclear Power Plant.

This was announced by Bulgaria's Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism Traicho Traikov after Wednesday's regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet.

On Tuesday it became clear that Croatia turned down Bulgaria's offer to became a shareholder in Belene, while Serbia is interested in participating with a share higher than the 1%, 1.5%, or 2% suggested by the Bulgarian government (possibly about 5%).

"We already know that Croatia is not interested in taking part in the construction of the Belene NPP, and Serbia is interested so now Macedonia has to make a decision on that offer," Traikov stated.

He revealed that on Tuesday he sent an official offer to Macedonia's Deputy PM Vladimir Pesevski.

"First they have to say if they are interested, and then we can talk numbers," he said.

As early as last week, Bulgarian Prime Minister sent formal letters to both the Serbian President Boris Tadic and the Prime Minister of Croatia Jadranka Kosor inviting their countries to participate in the Belene NPP with stakes of 1%, 1.5% or 2%.

Borisov revealed that he spoke to Tadic about the Belene project, and that he invited him and Kosor to respond by November 13, 2010, if their countries are interested in acquiring small stakes in the future nuclear plant.

November 13 has apparently been set as a deadline by Borisov because this is when the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is arriving to Sofia for high-profile energy talks. The Russian state company Atomstroyexport is supposed to build Belene but Bulgaria under Borisov has been haggling with its parent company Rosatom about the exact price.

According to Borisov, the participation of Serbia and Croatia and other countries from the region in Belene "will make this project even more pragmatic because it will guarantee the markets for this power plant when it is built."

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