Bulgarian Energy and Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov met Friday with the Hungarian coordinator for the "Nabucco" project Mihai Bayer to discuss the realization of the European gas line.

Just days ago Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov declared that "Nabucco" was a priority for Bulgaria.

The topic of the discussion between Dimitrov and Bayer was both countries' participation in the "Nabucco" project. In addition to Bulgaria and Hungary, the other countries participating in the project are Austria, Germany, Turkey and Romania. The Bulgarian company partnering in the building of the gas line is "Bulgargaz" with slightly over 16% of the entire project.

The plans are that by 2013 "Nabucco" will begin to transport Caspian gas through Turkey and Bulgaria to Central and Western Europe.

The gas line, which will have a capacity of over 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year, is seen as an alternative fuel source to reduce European dependence from Russian supply.

The main problem of the project is the lack f clarity regarding the gas source in the begging of the pipe. Energy Minister Dimitrov recently signed an agreement with Azerbaijan for the supply of 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year to be transported by "Nabucco".

Both Dimitrov and Bayer agreed that the most probable gas suppliers would be Azerbaijan, Iraq and Turkmenistan.

At the meeting Petar Dimitrov proposed that the US participate indirectly in the project due to their strong influence in Iraq. He did not specify exactly how the US would participate, but admitted that Washington had expressed "cautious interest" in the project.

A possibility to hold a high level meeting with all 6 countries participating in the project has also been discussed by Dimitrov and Bayer with Dimitrov stating that it would be great if the US also attended the planned meeting.

Dimitrov further said that he was certain that the "Nabucco" agreement would be signed in the fall in order to secure political support in the search fro the necessary gas.

During the meeting of the Security Council earlier in the week President Parvanov and Prime Minister Stanishev united around the idea that the gas line was priority for Bulgaria, with more importance than the Russian-Italian line "South Stream", which will also pass through Bulgaria

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