Minister of State Stavros Papastavrou went to Sofia today, where he held a meeting with the Bulgarian Minister of Finance, Assen Vassilev, at the latter’s invitation. The two ministers had been designated as “coordination contact points of bilateral cooperation» the prime ministers of the two countries, during the recent visit of Nikolai Denkov to Kyriakos Mitsotakis on January 4 of this year.

Messrs. Vassilev and Papastavrou discussed, among other things, the strengthening of the cooperation between the two countries in matters of interconnectivity and networks, building a new dynamic framework of synergies in the wider region, it is noted in a relevant press release of the Presidency of the Greek Government.

After the meeting, the Minister of State, Mr. Papastavrou, after calling it a “great honor” to be in Sofia today, following the invitation of the Minister, Mr. Vassilev, pointed out:

“We have a lot of work to do, as earlier this month our Prime Ministers, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Nikolai Denkov, entrusted us with the responsibility of coordination in order to accelerate bilateral economic cooperation. Our two countries, Greece and Bulgaria, not only have good neighborly relations, but are pillars of stability in an unstable environment and in the face of difficult challenges».

Furthermore, “now, through our enhanced cooperation, we are promoting interconnectivity in the energy and transport sectors along the South-North Vertical Corridor.

In this way, we are building new interconnection corridors of strategic importance and great value. And this, of course, significantly upgrades the grid of networks and infrastructures of our continent“, the Greek minister emphasized.

And, he concluded by expressing his strong belief, as he said, “in the great potential of Greek-Bulgarian cooperation for the benefit of the citizens of our countries and for the benefit of the wider European area”.

For his part, the Minister of Finance of the neighboring country, Mr. Vassilev stated (in an unofficial translation) that “we had an extremely productive meeting regarding economic cooperation between Bulgaria and Greece. As you know, we have been discussing North-South connectivity for a long time. We are now working on the text of a bilateral agreement that will ensure that connectivity will be in place and built together with Greece, as will other aspects of economic life. We expect it to work very well“, assessed the Bulgarian minister, who added:

“Greece also strongly supports Bulgaria’s full integration into the Schengen area, which also means opening land borders and ensuring smooth traffic across all land borders, as well as our entry into the Eurozone, which is expected on January 1, 2025».

As part of his visit, Mr. Papastavrou is expected to meet representatives of the Hellenic Business Council in Bulgaria.