Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are going to meet in Gdansk, Poland, on September 1, 2009.

Borisov and Putin will have their first meeting in Gdansk, where several state leaders are going to participate in the remembrance events for the 70th year since the start of World War II.

Moscow officials have given an indication that the new center-right government in Sofia is going to change its plans to review all contracts signed by the previous government regarding energy projects with Russia's participation.

"We all have heard the statements that Bulgarian officials made following GERB victory in the elections," Yuri Ushakov, deputy head of government staff, said a day earlier.

"During his telephone conversation with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Boyko Borisov said he wants to hear Russia's ministers opinions on these projects [South stream gas pipeline and nuclear power plant Belene]. There were no signs that the Bulgarian side plans to cancel the agreements that have been made so far," he added.

After it took office in July 2009, Bulgaria's new government of the GERB party made it clear it was going to reconsider the country's participation in the three large-scale energy projects - South Stream gas pipeline, Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline, and Belene Nuclear Power Plant.

Yet a day before the meeting in Gdansk Bulgaria's new Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov the government is looking for private investors in the nuclear plant in an apparent bid to save the plan.

In response to media reports about planned talks with officials from the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, the minister assured that the government will contact all interested parties.

The parliamentary economic commission urged the government earlier in the month to seek a private investors for its stake. State power utility NEK has a majority stake in the plant and has contracted Russia's Atomstroyexport to build the two 1,000 megawatt reactors.

Bulgaria's previous Socialist-led government chose last year German power utility RWE to become a strategic partner in the Belene project with a stake of 49%.

The previous cabinet started talks with the Russian government on a EUR 3.8 B state loan for the project and offered guarantees for it.

It hired BNP Paribas SA, France's largest bank by market value, to arrange a EUR 250 M loan to help fund construction of the nuclear power plant at the Danube river town, whose price tag towered from EUR 4 B to EUR 10 B.

NEK's poor results, triggered by a fall in power consumption, however forced it to breach the conditions on the loan, making it callable.

According to reports and non-governmental organizations RWE AG's plan to expand in Bulgaria's nuclear market is on the brink of collapse because financing for the project couldn't be obtained.

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