Bulgaria Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov (BTA photo)
VARNA – Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov who was in Euxinograd for a trilateral forum on Monday said that Europe can no longer afford to be divided, to have no roads connecting neighboring countries, to have no energy connectivity, thus making it dependent on external factors.
Denkov hosted the forum, which saw participation by his Greek and Romanian counterparts - Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Marcel Ciolacu. Denkov said: "The main topics we discussed are related to the development of the Southeast European region, both in terms of transport connectivity and energy and digital connectivity. All of these issues today have a very important supra-regional aspect related to what is happening in Ukraine and what we have been witnessing in Israel for the past two days".
The forum was also attended by the European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, European Commissioner for Transport Adina Valean and the Moldovan Minister of Energy Victor Parlicov.
Denkov emphasized the importance of the states in the region having common goals, values and political stance.
He shared his will to have Bulgaria join efforts with Greece and Romania to "make our region take its place and lead the European family, to be an example for other countries, not only for the EU Member States".
The Bulgarian delegation was also comprised of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel, Minister of Finance Assen Vassilev, Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeikov, Energy Minister Rumen Radev, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Andrey Tsekov, as well as Minister of Environment and Water Julian Popov.
The meeting's focus is on regional connectivity, more specifically a future Greece-Bulgaria-Romania corridor from Thessaloniki via Kavala, Alexandroupolis, Burgas and Varna to Constanta, with a possible extension to Moldova.
The idea is to build up-to-date transport, communication and energy infrastructure along the route to bolster the participating countries' economic and political relations. (BTA)
