Putin Lands in Sofia with 1.5-Hour Delay

Politics » DIPLOMACY | November 13, 2010, Saturday // 15:30
Bulgaria: Putin Lands in Sofia with 1.5-Hour Delay A special post card created by Bulgarian supporters of Vladimir Putin's visit to Sofia on Saturday, November 13th, 2010. Photo by BGNES

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin arrived in Sofia at about 3:10 pm on Saturday for his much anticipated energy and diplomatic talks with his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov.

Putin was originally supposed to land in Sofia at 1:40 pm; there is no official information as to what caused the delay.

The Russian state delegation led by Putin includes Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko, Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov; the CEO of the Russian state corporation for nuclear energy Rosatom, and CEO of Gazprom Alexei Miller.

The Bulgarian delegation for the talks during the one-day visit of Putin consists of PM Borisov, his two deputies, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov, Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism Traicho Traikov, Environment Minister Nona Karadzhova, and Maya Hristova, CEO of the Bulgarian Energy Holding.

The official program provides for tete-a-tete talks, the signing of energy and social agreements in the presence of Borisov and Putin, and a joint news conference of the two PMs.

Borisov will then give a late lunch in honor of the Putin's visit. After the "lunch" Putin is also scheduled to meet with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.

The highlight of Putin's visit in Sofia will be the signing of the inter-governmental agreement for the setting up of a joint venture between the Bulgarian Energy Holding and Gazprom for the construction of the South Stream gas transit pipeline.

The other large-scale joint energy projects – the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and the Belene Nuclear Power Plant are also on the agenda, though to a lesser extent.

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Tags: Vladimir Putin, Russia, Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, Belene NPP, Nuclear Power Plant, South stream, gas transit pipeline, Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline

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