European Union's Nabucco gas pipeline project will play an important role for Bulgaria's future and the coming year will be crucial for it, former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer said in Sofia.

Fischer, now an adviser for partners in the Nabucco consortium, the German and Austrian energy giants RWE and OMV, arrived in Sofia to discuss the project with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and other officials.

"I am keen on drumming support for Nabucco because Europe will need more and more gas," he said, but downplayed the rivalry between Nabucco and South Stream, neither of which has moved into the construction phase.

Asked about the potential providers of gas, Fischer singled out Northern Iraq, as well as Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan.

"The project should be implemented step by step so that we can be absolutely sure that these countries will agree to provide gas," he added.

Following his meeting with Fischer, Bulgaria's Energy and Economy Minister Traycho Traykov said the country has no plans to pull out of the project.

According to the minister the Bulgarian state has to secure EUR 300 M for the completion of the project.

Earlier in the day Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Rumiana Jeleva made it clear that the government assigns great importance to the European Union's Nabucco gas pipeline project and it will be given a higher priority over Moscow's rival plan.

Bulgaria, in which the pipeline from Caspian gas fields is to enter the EU, holds a 16.5 % stake in the EUR 8 B project.

The Nabucco pipeline is planned across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Bulgaria, its construction executed by a consortium of firms from EU nations - Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria - as well as Turkey.

The project is the EU's attempt to diversify sources and reduce dependency on Russia.

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