Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin announced Monday that in 2009 the country was going to be the host of an international summit meeting on natural gas supplies, which was going to discuss the gas deliveries for Europe.

Kalfin made this announcement during the opening of the third annual meeting of the Bulgarian diplomatic representatives abroad.

According to the Foreign Minister, the summit would be attended by the leaders of European states and of the natural gas suppliers located to the east of Europe.

Kalfin also stated Bulgaria's foreign policy was primarily economically oriented.

"There is a rigorous competition for the energy supplies, and we exert our efforts to attract as many energy projects as possible", the Foreign Minister said adding that Bulgaria was not affected much by the world economic crisis.

In his words, the foreign direct investments in the country amounted to EUR 13 B in the last three years.

"There are certain circles in the EU which are against its enlargement. They want to turn Bulgaria into the bad example to support their claims. Let us not allow Bulgaria to fit this image", Kalfin called upon the Bulgarian diplomats referring to the recent monitoring reports of the European Commission.

The Foreign Minister also criticized some of the Bulgarian ambassadors for failing to set up and maintain web sites of their missions.

In his speech at the opening of the conference, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev stressed Bulgaria's solid position in international affairs.

He pointed out that the country's economic growth was close to 7%, the government was working to reduce inflation, and the country's foreign investments were among the highest in the EU.

Stanishev asked the Bulgarian diplomats to boost their contacts with the Bulgarian diaspora in their countries.

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