The IX Intergovernmental Russia – Bulgaria commission on the trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation was held in Sophia on the 1 – 2 of October under the chairmanship of Sergey Naryshkin, the Head of the Government Stuff and Vice Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, and Lidia Shuleva, the Minister for the Economy of the Republic of Bukgaria. Gazprom was represented at the meeting by Stanislav Tsygankov, the Head of the Foreign Relations Department of Gazprom.

Within the frames of the meeting the Commission summed up the results of the work performed during the preceding period and outlined the prospects of the key aspects of cooperation and expansion of the partnership between Russian and Bulgaria.

The Parties have confirmed the decisiveness to continue fulfillment of the clauses of the Memorandum on further development of the Russia - Bulgaria relations in the sphere of natural gas supply and transit, including, in particular, perfection of the terms and mechanism of payment for the Russian gas transit via the territory of Bulgaria, construction and upgrading of the existing gas transmission infrastructure as well as Gazprom’s participation in the gas supply development in Bulgarian regions.

Reference:

The exports of the Russian natural gas to Bulgaria have been carried out since 1974 and meet completely the demand of the Republic in natural gas. As of September 1, 2004, the total volume of Russian natural gas delivered to Bulgaria amounted to 132.5 bcm. 2.9 bcm of natural gas was delivered to Bulgaria in 2003.

During the visit of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to Bulgaria on 2 March, 2003, Alexey Miller, the Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom, and Kiril Gegov, the CEO of Bilgargaz, signed the Memorandum on further development of the Russia – Bulgaria relation in the sphere of the Russian natural gas supply and transit.

High potential of the mutually beneficial cooperation exists in the field of gas transmission grids development and gas delivery to an end consumer in Bulgaria. The Russian – Bulgarian joint venture AO Overgaz Inc., with Gazprom’s 50% interest, has gained much experience in execution of such works and is capable of performing of such activities, under the licenses granted to it, in 26 Bulgarian cities, including Sophia, Varna and Rusa.

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