Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has told Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev that his country has advanced in the construction of gas links with neighboring states.

Plevneliev informed his counterpart that the Bulgaria is poised to complete the construction of the gas link with Romania and is to start building the interconnection with Greece.

Separately, Sofia is working to mark progress in the interconnection projects with Serbia and Turkey, the Presidency quotes Plevneliev as saying.

Bulgaria and Azerbaijan are also willing to deepen ties in energy, technology, pharmaceutics, and food production, according to the two heads of state.

Gas interconnectors, which Plevneliev discussed with Aliyev during his visit to Baku on Thursday, are essential to Bulgaria as the country is willing to be supplied with gas from the so-called Southern Gas Corridor.

The two heads of state on Thursday agreed that construction the Southern Gas Corridor, a system of pipelines aimed at delivering natural gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey and also to the Adriatic via Greece and Albania, is going according to plan, regardless of difficulties caused by low gas prices.

Sofia has sought to complete interconnections with Serbia, Romania, Greece and Turkey for years, but work on the projects has postponed due to various disagreements with neighbors.

Plevneliev assured Aliyev that Baku would have Sofia's support to finalize a strategic partnership agreement with the EU that Azerbaijan, which is part of the EU's Eastern Partnership countries, is hoping to sign.

In Baku, Plevneliev is atending the Fourth Global Baku Forum under the slogan "Towards a Multipolar World" taking place on March 10-11 and convened by the Nizami Ganjavi International Center.

Plevneliev is the only acting head of state to take part in the video messages for leaders published on the forum's website, saying:

"I am coming representing Europe, representing Southeast Europe, and I am coming with devotion and a message that Baku plays an important role in international dialogue and we all have to learn from Nizami Ganjavi, a great poet who was teaching all leaders that, no matter how strong they are, no matter how strong their armies are, you could be strong not with a weapon, but with a pen."

Other heads of state taking part in the event are the Presidents of Albania, Georgia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, with Prime Ministers of the UK and Canada also being keynote speakers.


Last year, Plevneliev received the prestigious Nizami Ganjavi Award, which has also been handed to people such as former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali an Turkish President (2007-2014) Abdullah Gul.