Energy Tops Bulgarian President Visit to Azerbaijan

Business » ENERGY | November 14, 2011, Monday // 09:04
Energy Tops Bulgarian President Visit to Azerbaijan: Energy Tops Bulgarian President Visit to Azerbaijan Azeri President Ilham Aliev (left) is pictured with Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Parvanov in Sofia, November 2009. Photo by BGNES

The energy sector will be topping the agenda of outgoing Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov during his official visit to Azerbaijan.

Parvanov is traveling to Baku Monday on the invitation of his counterpart Ilham Aliev.

The delegation also includes Bulgarian Ministers of Economy and Energy Traicho Traikov, and of Social Policy and Labor, Totyu Mladenov, and a number of businessmen.

Parvanov and Aliev are to discuss measures to intensify trade and economic partnership between the two countries with partnership in the energy sector being the focus of the talks.

One year ago, they agreed on a deal to purchase 1 B cubic meters of Azeri natural gas for Bulgaria, which is expected to be finalized now. The deal was confirmed during an earlier September visit of Minister Traikov to the Caspian former Soviet republic and is part of a long-term strategy on the part of the Bulgarian state to diversify its gas imports, the vast majority of which are coming from Russia.

According to the latest plans, the gas is to flow into Bulgaria via Georgia, Turkey and Greece, once the Bulgaria-Greece gas network interconnections are ready in 2014.

Aliev believes the most logical way of gas deliveries for Bulgaria goes through Turkey and Azerbaijan is negotiating with Bulgaria's southern neighbor a deal for transit of gas through its territory.

Part of the deliveries from Azerbaijan could further arrive into Bulgaria by sea, shipped in the form of liquefied gas (LNG).

Bulgaria is also party to the EU-sponsored Nabucco natural gas pipeline, which is set to deliver natural gas from Azerbaijan and other countries in the Caspian region to Europe. The deal for the 1 B cub.m. of natural gas is independent of plans to implement Nabucco.

In the frame of Parvanov's visit, Sofia and Baku are also set to sign agreements for bilateral partnership in social policy, classified information and foreign policy.

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Tags: Ilham Aliev, Totyu Mladenov, EU, Nabucco, azerbaijan, natural gas, gas, Russia, Georgia, turkey, greece, Georgi Parvanov, Traicho Traikov

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