Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov. Photo by BGNES
Bulgaria's trade with Russia increased by 50% last year, Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov said Thursday after he met with his Bulgarian counterpart, Nikolay Mladenov.
"Our trade grew more than 50 percent last year. We are glad that is so, but we would also like to diversify economic contacts and give more attention to large joint projects, high-tech cooperation and joint innovations," the Russian top diplomat said, as cited by The Moscow Times.
Mladenov pointed out that energy and tourism make up the lion's share of the bilateral cooperation between Bulgaria and Russia, adding that the two countries must broaden the list of joint areas, because their relations have an effect on the EU-Russia relations and the Atlantic context.
The Bulgarian Foreign Minister also stated that any further work on the Russian-Bulgarian project to build a second nuclear power plant, in the Danube town of Belene in Bulgaria would be resumed only after the conclusion of the analysis of safety criteria.