Bulgaria is interested in the plans for the future development and management of the ports in Kavala and Alexandroupolis due to the blocked trade routes in the Black Sea as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, President Rumen Radev has said. Radev is in Greece on the occasion of the 87th edition of the fair in Thessaloniki, in which Bulgaria also participates. According to the president, the ports of Kavala and Alexandroupolis enable the two countries to contribute to the transit of grain from Ukraine.
“Both Bulgaria and Greece have ambitions to increase their regional role in the field of energy, but the two countries are not competitors, but close, trusted and reliable partners,” said Radev.
The President noted the importance of the doubling of reserved capacity by Bulgaria at the liquefied gas terminal in Alexandroupolis, in which the country was a 20% co-owner, as well as the possibility for Greek companies to store natural gas in the Bulgarian gas storage facility in Chiren to ensure energy stability.
The president pointed to the project to create an oil pipeline from Alexandroupolis to Burgas, for which the two countries signed a study memorandum, as particularly important for increasing the region’s energy security.
“On many occasions, I had the opportunity to emphasize that for Bulgaria the area of Alexandroupolis was of strategic importance with the liquefied gas terminal and the gas interconnector, the project to connect the Aegean and the Black Sea with a multimodal transport corridor, the creation of an oil pipeline between Alexandroupolis and Burgas and the future NATO oil pipeline, which would also start from Alexandroupolis,” said Rumen Radev.
The head of state added that all these strategic projects were also extremely important for Greece, because only through joint actions with Bulgaria could the country fully realize its potential in energy and transport. (Novinite/Business World Magazine)