Bulgaria and Turkey will strengthen joint bilateral and trilateral initiatives together with Romania to guarantee free navigation in the Black Sea. This was agreed upon today in a telephone conversation by Prime Minister Rumen Radev and the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish President expressed his sympathy for the drone strikes against commercial ships in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea.
The common position was that the moratorium on military strikes against commercial shipping in the Black Sea proposed by Prime Minister Radev at the European Council meeting is a reasonable and possible outcome in the interest of all countries. Prime Minister Radev also welcomed President Erdogan's diplomatic initiative on this issue.
The two also discussed topics on the agenda of bilateral relations, such as increasing the capacity of border checkpoints and expanding connectivity between the two countries, including with EU financial support. In this regard, Prime Minister Radev invited President Erdogan to the upcoming high-level meeting in Sofia early next year under the auspices of the European Commission, dedicated to the connectivity of Europe with Central Asia.