Azerbaijan's President Alham Aliyev is on a visit to Sofia along with ministers of foreign affairs, transport economy, energy and communication.

Aliyev comes at the invitation of his Bulgarian counterpart Rosen Plevneliev. His visit follows the two statesmen's meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, in September of last year when they pledged increased bilateral cooperation in energy.  
Back then Plevneliev attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the Southern Gas Corridor, a system of pipes part of which will pass near Bulgaria's territory.

Bulgaria is now eyeing to avail of the prospective pipeline that will pump natural gas from Azerbaijan, and in September signed agreements on gas deliveries though they did not involve concrete parameters.

Sofia at the same time hopes to attain energy diversification through its interconnection grid to reduce dependence from Russian resources.

Unlike a series of visits by foreign leaders in January, Aliyev's was confirmed two weeks in advance.

The full list of Aliyev's delegation includes Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev, Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev, and Ali Abbasov, who currently takes the Communications and Information Technologies portfolio.

On the Bulgarian side, various ministers are due to take part in a meeting including Nikolay Nenchev (defense), Vezhdi Rashidov (culture), Bozhidar Lukarski (economy), Temenuzhka Petkova (energy), Krasen Kralev (sports) and Irena Georgieva (Deputy Tourism Minister).

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