Friday, 16 October 2009
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s trip to Bulgaria offered an opportunity for the two countries to discuss many important issues ranging from energy to the economy. Before Berlusconi met with his counterpart, Borisov, the President of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov first bestowed the State Order “Stara Planina” to the Italian Prime Minister on Thursday. As Parvanov stated, the award demonstrates the high marks given by Bulgaria to the Italian PM's leadership role in international politics, the 130 years of progress in bilateral relations, their strategic partnership and the beneficial political dialogue between the two countries.
Yesterday, Berlusconi paid a one-day official visit to Sofia. It is important to bear in mind that Berlusconi is the first foreign leader to officially visit Bulgaria after the appointment of the new Cabinet of the rightist Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party. He emphasized his strong sympathy towards Bulgaria, which later prospered into more.
Berlusconi and Borisov talked about the importance of the completion of the gas pipeline “South Stream” and Bulgaria's second NPP in Belene. Berlusconi firmly stated Italy’s desire to become independent from the Ukrainian supplies of natural gas and that is why he sees the realization of the South Stream gas pipeline project as a good alternative. In that sense, Berlusconi once again stressed the importance of the energy carrier’s diversification and the importance of nuclear energy.
By Simge Soyer (JTW)
