Turkey is working on all its power plant projects to be located just several kilometers away from the border with Bulgaria, according to Turkish President, Abdullah Gul.

Gul spoke Wednesday during a meeting with Bulgarian counterpart, Rosen Plevneliev, who is on an official visit to Turkey.

The Turkish President, despite earlier reports that his country will give up plans to build a nuclear power plant and/or a thermal power plant in the town of Igneada, which is located 5 km south of the Bulgarian-Turkish border, stated that both projects are under consideration.

"To an extent, Turkey is an energy dependent country, and for this reason we are discussing a number of nuclear and gas energy projects. One thing is however certain, these projects must be all environmentally safe," said Gul, cited by the Bulgarian National Radio.

Plevneliev replied Sofia was eagerly awaiting more information about the above energy plans.

"Turkey is willing to help Bulgaria diversify its energy sources," Gul has stated.

The meeting was the first official one during Bulgaria's President 2-day trip. In addition to energy issues, the two Heads of State have further discussed joint infrastructure projects and the issue with Turkey recently deciding to not recognize Bulgarian college diplomas.

"We want to link our ports; to build high-speed roads from the Danube to the Turkish border and along the Black Sea coast," Plevneliev noted, while Gul agreed the two countries have many joint infrastructure projects.

Currently, Turkey ranks only second after Germany when it comes to Bulgarian exports, with Bulgaria's President stressing the trade between the two countries is estimated at EUR 3 B with hopes to soon reach EUR 10 B.

Plevneliev also reported that many large Turkish companies have shown interest in investing in Bulgaria, for example in the telecom sector.

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