Xinhua News Agency

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Vassilev and his visiting Russian counterpart, Aleksei Kudrin, declared their countries' shared ambition to invigorate bilateral economic cooperation, on Friday. They described each other as a "key-priority partner." The two ministers co-presided over the opening ceremony of the seventh session of the Bulgarian-Russian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, in the suburb of Sofia.

Vassilev, also the Minister of Economy, expressed hope that the commission will make progress during the plenary session in settling marked issues in trade and investment, as well as in energy, agriculture, transport, tourism, and the construction industries.

The last three years witnessed a fourfold decline in Bulgarian exports to Russia, and Bulgaria's trade deficit with Russia currently amounts to a huge 12 percent of the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product), said Vassilev.

Russian investments in Bulgaria constitute a mere 4.7 percent of total foreign investments, he added.

The Russian Deputy PM, who is also Financial Minister, said Bulgarian chemical companies will be welcome to invest in the upgrading of Russian oil processing facilities.

Another promising line of business cooperation was to process Russian oil products at Bulgaria-based joint ventures and to export the finished products to third countries, Kudrin suggested.
Russian companies were willing to share in the privatization of the Bulgarian natural gas sector, Kudrin said.

The Russian government had apportioned a national budget for supplying nuclear fuel to Bulgaria and for the upgrading of the Kozlodoui Nuclear Power Plant, he added.

Kudrin was expected to confer with Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and President Georgi Parvanov.

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