Political will exists in both countries to resolve the problem of Russia’s debt to Bulgaria.
This was announced on Tuesday by Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Alexey Kudrin after a meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart and Minister of Economy Nikolai Vassilev.
Inherited from the Soviet Union era, the debt is estimated at close to $100 million. Despite a 1995 intergovernmental agreement on settling the debt, the question is still an open issue in bilateral relations.
The Bulgarian-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation will meet on February 21-22 in Sofia, Vassilev said on Tuesday during his official visit to Moscow.
The date was set at his meeting with Kudrin.
A Russian business delegation will come to Sofia for the meeting of the commission, which the two deputy prime ministers co-chair. It is expected to include the heads of the Russian giants LUKOil and Gazprom.
During talks at LUKOil on Tuesday, Vassilev urged the company to participate in the privatisation of power generating facilities in Bulgaria.
At a business forum in the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry later on Tuesday, Vassilev presented the conditions and prospects for investment in Bulgaria.
He also spoke about the opportunities to increase Bulgarian exports to Russia and improve the two-way trade balance.
The idea that Bulgaria may pay for Russian nuclear fuel in goods and services met with a constructive reception. This matter was also considered in talks between Vassilev and Gazprom.
Bulgaria is an important strategic partner not only because of its domestic market, but because it offers opportunities for transit of natural gas to four other countries, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said.
It is technically possible to increase natural gas transit to Turkey, to complete the stretch of the gas pipeline between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia and build new gas pipelines, Vassilev said.
Bulgaria invited Gazprom to participate in investment projects in the chemical and petrochemical industries.
Vassilev and Miller discussed the price of Russian natural gas supplies, but the Bulgarian official declined to comment on the topic to the media. A considerable development of the domestic gas market in Bulgaria can be expected in the next five or six years, he said
In Moscow, Vassilev was accompanied by his three deputies – Lyubka Kachakova, Nikola Yanov and Dimitar Hadjinikolov, as well as the deputy ministers of finance and transport, Krassimir Katev and Nikolai Nikolov.
It was one of the most impressive economic delegations to have visited Russia in recent years. It also included officials of the Privatisation Agency, Foreign Aid Agency, Trade Promotion Agency, Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Plovdiv Fair, Union of Bulgarian Employers, the chiefs of Bulbank and Roseximbank and the CEO of LUKOil Bulgaria.
Representatives of nearly 60 Bulgarian companies were in the delegation and participated in a series of events in Moscow, including a business forum “Invest in New Bulgaria” that was held on Tuesday.
But, the focus of the visit was moved in another direction, after an Agence France Presse report on Sunday about spent nuclear fuel from Kozlodui Nuclear Power Plant to be returned by Russia.
On Monday Vassilev conferred with Russian Minister of Atomic Energy Aleksandr Rumyantsev. Among other topics, the two discussed the problems of the spent nuclear fuel, which both sides considered a technical issue.
They noted the arguably enormous bilateral potential for cooperation in the energy sector. Russia will continue accepting spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria and is ready to provide assistance in the decommissioning of Bulgarian nuclear reactors, it emerged after the meeting.
The fog over the nuclear fuel problem was cleared Monday by Bulgarian officials. Russia will no longer accept spent nuclear fuel containing burnable absorbers, Emil Vapirev, the new Chairman of the Committee for the Use of Atomic Energy for Peaceful Purposes (CUAEPP) said in response to the AFP report.
Vapirev said the fuel includes three types of burnable absorbers, which are aluminium cylinders with boron and chrome. Russia no longer treats these burnable absorbers as part of the spent nuclear fuel and considers them radioactive waste. But they are the only material that will no longer be accepted by Russia.
This was announced on Tuesday by Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Alexey Kudrin after a meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart and Minister of Economy Nikolai Vassilev.
Inherited from the Soviet Union era, the debt is estimated at close to $100 million. Despite a 1995 intergovernmental agreement on settling the debt, the question is still an open issue in bilateral relations.
The Bulgarian-Russian intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation will meet on February 21-22 in Sofia, Vassilev said on Tuesday during his official visit to Moscow.
The date was set at his meeting with Kudrin.
A Russian business delegation will come to Sofia for the meeting of the commission, which the two deputy prime ministers co-chair. It is expected to include the heads of the Russian giants LUKOil and Gazprom.
During talks at LUKOil on Tuesday, Vassilev urged the company to participate in the privatisation of power generating facilities in Bulgaria.
At a business forum in the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry later on Tuesday, Vassilev presented the conditions and prospects for investment in Bulgaria.
He also spoke about the opportunities to increase Bulgarian exports to Russia and improve the two-way trade balance.
The idea that Bulgaria may pay for Russian nuclear fuel in goods and services met with a constructive reception. This matter was also considered in talks between Vassilev and Gazprom.
Bulgaria is an important strategic partner not only because of its domestic market, but because it offers opportunities for transit of natural gas to four other countries, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said.
It is technically possible to increase natural gas transit to Turkey, to complete the stretch of the gas pipeline between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia and build new gas pipelines, Vassilev said.
Bulgaria invited Gazprom to participate in investment projects in the chemical and petrochemical industries.
Vassilev and Miller discussed the price of Russian natural gas supplies, but the Bulgarian official declined to comment on the topic to the media. A considerable development of the domestic gas market in Bulgaria can be expected in the next five or six years, he said
In Moscow, Vassilev was accompanied by his three deputies – Lyubka Kachakova, Nikola Yanov and Dimitar Hadjinikolov, as well as the deputy ministers of finance and transport, Krassimir Katev and Nikolai Nikolov.
It was one of the most impressive economic delegations to have visited Russia in recent years. It also included officials of the Privatisation Agency, Foreign Aid Agency, Trade Promotion Agency, Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Plovdiv Fair, Union of Bulgarian Employers, the chiefs of Bulbank and Roseximbank and the CEO of LUKOil Bulgaria.
Representatives of nearly 60 Bulgarian companies were in the delegation and participated in a series of events in Moscow, including a business forum “Invest in New Bulgaria” that was held on Tuesday.
But, the focus of the visit was moved in another direction, after an Agence France Presse report on Sunday about spent nuclear fuel from Kozlodui Nuclear Power Plant to be returned by Russia.
On Monday Vassilev conferred with Russian Minister of Atomic Energy Aleksandr Rumyantsev. Among other topics, the two discussed the problems of the spent nuclear fuel, which both sides considered a technical issue.
They noted the arguably enormous bilateral potential for cooperation in the energy sector. Russia will continue accepting spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria and is ready to provide assistance in the decommissioning of Bulgarian nuclear reactors, it emerged after the meeting.
The fog over the nuclear fuel problem was cleared Monday by Bulgarian officials. Russia will no longer accept spent nuclear fuel containing burnable absorbers, Emil Vapirev, the new Chairman of the Committee for the Use of Atomic Energy for Peaceful Purposes (CUAEPP) said in response to the AFP report.
Vapirev said the fuel includes three types of burnable absorbers, which are aluminium cylinders with boron and chrome. Russia no longer treats these burnable absorbers as part of the spent nuclear fuel and considers them radioactive waste. But they are the only material that will no longer be accepted by Russia.
