At a meeting in Ankara Prime Minister Rumen Radev and Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan highlighted connectivity as a key priority in bilateral relations. The Prime Minister and the President talked ahead of the NATO Summit that is hosted by the capital of the Republic of Türkiye.

Rumen Radev and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed the importance of the partnership between Bulgaria and Türkiye for ensuring stability in the region and for developing secure supply chains in the face of multiple crises.

After the meeting Bulgargas and BOTAŞ signed a protocol to freeze the contract between the two companies for 15 month and to pay in the said period only for the capacity used by the Bulgarian party and subject to improved conditions. It is in the common interest of Bulgaria and Türkiey to use the maximum capacity for natural gas transportation, as emphasized at the meeting and work will go ahead to renegotiate the contract between the two companies in line with the existing market conditions.

The talks recognized the positive trend of increasing bilateral trade which amounts to EURO 9 billion and discussed new potential projects of mutual interest. Prime Minister Rumen Radev noted his country’s ambition to attract more high value-add investment from Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on the EU to effectively enforce the Customs Union Agreement with Türkiye from which both parties stand to gain.

Prime Minister Rumen Radev expressed his gratitude to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the tougher border control by Türkiye along the common border as it makes a significant contribution to countering illegal migration and to Bulgaria’s accession to the Schengen Area.

At the Ankara Airport Rumen Radev was welcomed by Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat with whom he had a meeting later.