Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov is paying an official visit to Poland on Tuesday and Wednesday at the invitation of his counterpart Lech Kaczynski, BTA reported.

The two presidents set the goal of achieving 1,000 million euro in bilateral commodity exchange next year. This is contained in a statement of Purvanov and Kaczynski after their one-to-one meeting. Interaction in the EU and the Union's energy policy were among the topics discussed by the two presidents.

Purvanov said Bulgaria and Poland will remain active participants in the debates on EU enlargement and the energy policy. The Bulgarian President noted the support for the preservation and development of the European prospects of the Western Balkan countries and the need to update the EU neighbourhood policy towards such countries as Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

The presidents discussed the EU common energy policy and the diversification of energy sources. Purvanov briefed his Polish counterpart about agreements signed by Bulgaria on the building of the South Stream natural gas pipeline and other energy projects, and that the country is working very intensively on the Nabucco project, which is supported by the EU. According to Purvanov, his talks last month with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev will contribute to stepping up the implementation of Nabucco.

The two presidents also discussed cooperation in culture. A new agreement on cooperation in culture has been prepared, Kaczynski said. Purvanov noted that Poland places first in the EU in terms of number of students studying the Bulgarian language, and that Polish is taught in a number of universities in Bulgaria.

Purvanov and Kaczynski signed a joint declaration on further promotion of bilateral political, economic and cultural relations. The two presidents will work for the development of bilateral trade and investment, especially in energy, mechanical engineering, agriculture and the environment, the declaration says.

The two stressed their will to continue the dialogue and cooperation in the field of security and defence at the European and Euro-Atlantic level. They stated their will for joint action to promote the European and Euro-Atlantic prospects of the countries seeking membership and to strengthen cooperation with countries in the context of the European neighbourhood policy.

The declaration further says that the presidents of Bulgaria and Poland support the goals of the European energy policy and the activities aimed at diversification of the sources and the routes of transfer of energy resources. Purvanov and Kaczynski reaffirmed their support for the principle of energy solidarity enshrined in the Treaty of Lisbon.

Later in the day, Purvanov attended the opening of a Bulgarian-Polish business forum. He conferred with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, with the Speaker of the Sejm (the lower house of Parliament) Bronislaw Komorowski and with the Deputy Speaker of the Senate Marek Ziolkowski.

Bulgaria's trade with Poland in 2007 stood at 651.4 million euro, 20.7 per cent up from 2006. Poland was the 16th major trade partner of Bulgaria last year.

According to Bulgarian National Bank figures, as of December 31, 2007, direct Polish investment in the Bulgarian economy totals 55.6 million US dollars, which places Poland in 32nd position in terms of foreign investment in Bulgaria. A large portion of this investment, 41.5 million dollars, was made last year in real estate and tourism. As at December 31, 2006, there were 61 investments of Polish companies in Bulgaria.

A total of 144,032 Polish tourists visited Bulgaria in 2007, which was 20.6 per cent more than in 2006. Poland ranks ninth in terms of number of tourists who visited Bulgaria in 2007.

Photo: BGNES