Iran and Bulgarian officials have agreed to exchange experience in nuclear energy, the Bulgarian cabinet says.

The announcement comes after a meeting of Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova and Deputy PM Tomislav Donchev with Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the country's nuclear watchdog.

It is not immediately clear whether common ground was reached during the talks on Bulgaria's plans to sell to Iran a nuclear reactor and other equipment made for a plant project that it abandoned.

Bulgaria ditched Belene Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) project it had pursued with Russia. In June, an arbitration ruled that it will have to pay EUR 550 to Russian energy company Atomstroyexport, but will also be handed the reactor and other devices that were manufactured for Belene.

Since then Sofia has been looking for options to sell it to third countries.

"Minister Petkova informed Mr Ali Salehi about the decision of the arbitration court in Geneva [the Commercial and Industrial International Arbitration Court of Geneva, CARICI] on the commercial dispute between the National Electricity Company and Atomstroyexport with regard to the Belene NPP project," the government's statement says.

No mention is made of deals involving a nuclear reactor.

Bulgaria, however, has offered to provide Iran with expertise in the storage of spent nuclear fuel and other issues, considering its decades-long experience with Kozloduy NPP.

The meeting was part of a visit of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to the Islamic Republic which ends Tuesday.

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