Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on August 31 met with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Boyce. The two talked in Bled before the start of the strategic forum.

Borissov and Boyce discussed the "Three Seas" initiative, in which Bulgaria is participating along with 11 other European countries. Prime Minister Boyko Borissov noted the importance of the initiative as a pragmatic platform for trade and economic co-operation. The Bulgarian Prime Minister pointed out the benefits within the initiative of deepening the integration of the countries in the region between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas and creating greater connectivity between them on the North-South line in the areas of energy, transport, communications, information technology and business.

"Even greater deepening of Bulgarian-American trade and economic relations will be important in the period of economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic," Borissov said during a meeting with Matthew Boyce. He pointed out that Bulgaria and the United States are allies and strategic partners and cooperation is extremely broad both on a bilateral basis and within NATO and the EU-US.

Prime Minister Borissov praised the first session of the Bulgaria-US Strategic Dialogue held in Sofia in January. Borissov added that it is very important to maintain the positive trend for sustainable growth of bilateral trade between Bulgaria and the United States, as well as to attract new US direct investment. There is significant potential for this in the high-tech sectors, outsourcing, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering.

The meeting also discussed other topics in the fields of energy, security and defense./BNT