"The prerequisites for the implementation of the South Stream Project are improving," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at the start of his meeting Thursday with Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev. The two conferred at the Riviera Residence in Sochi, Russia, during a one-day working visit by the Bulgarian head of government.

South Stream is a Russian-Italian project to transport Russian natural gas to Italy over a 900 km offshore pipeline from Russia to Bulgaria across the Black Sea and from there, via Greece and the Ionian Sea to southern Italy and via Romania, Hungary, Slovenia and Austria to northern Italy.

Stanishev stressed that Bulgaria attaches great importance to a prompt implementation of the projects on which agreements were signed during Putin's visit to Bulgaria in January 2008. "Apart from South Stream, the construction of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant and of the Bourgas-Alexandroupolis [oil pipeline] is also important for Bulgaria," the PM noted.

He said that Bulgarian Regional Development and Public Works Minister Asen Gagaouzov arrived in Sochi on Thursday at the head of a group of Bulgarian businessmen and said that the Bulgarian side expects them to share in the construction of the infrastructure projects for the Sochi Olympic Winter Games in 2014.

According to Putin, the fulfilment of this task is quite feasible and part of the infrastructure projects are already under construction.

"The issue of the Russian debt to Bulgaria can be considered settled. What remains to be done is for the two countries' finance ministries to agree on the mechanisms," Stanishev said after his session with Putin.

The Russian PM said that his country will be actively involved in the preparation and holding of a conference on energy security, which Bulgaria is preparing to host next spring. "Without the participation of Russia, this conference would hardly be successful," Stanishev noted.

Questions concerning both bilateral and international relations were on the agenda of the meeting. The two PMs discussed questions cutting across the spectrum of cooperation: finance, military technology and humanitarian, Putin said.

He noted that the sides reached full understanding on the modalities of financial operations. The observance of the Year of Bulgaria in Russia was also discussed.

The Russian head of government described the economic, political and cultural relations between Bulgaria and Russia in recent years as "civilized, dynamic and mutually advantageous."

Stanishev is also scheduled to confer with Russian Regional Development Minister Dmitriy Kozak and with Krasnodar Kray Administration Head Aleksandr Tkachev.

Gagaouzov will take part in the 7th International Investment Forum in Sochi (September 18-21).

Source: BTA