Bulgaria's President, Georgi Parvanov, stated that the country was striving to develop positive business and political relations with the Russian Federation.

Parvanov made the statements in an interview for the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung published Monday and cited by the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.

"There are so many great traditions shared by our two people. We are currently attempting to create contemporary, pragmatic relations, that would deem profitable from a business and political view point for both countries," Parvanov points out.

In the interview, the President also speaks about the friendly relations between Bulgaria and countries considered important perspective suppliers of natural gas to Europe, such as Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

"This is a good prerequisite for Bulgaria to become a trusted negotiator, if the European Commission (EC) wishes to use us," Parvanov says.

The President further talks about the upcoming Energy Forum to be held in Sofia on April 24 and 25, defining its goal as "establishing unified principles for energy security, that would not depend of the countries' history, of the current situation, or of its ideology."

The Bulgarian State Leader further points out that he does not see a single reason for the criticism of the EC regarding the "South Stream" project, adding he hoped very much to see the "Nabucco" project finished as well.

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