Azerbaijan is a reliable strategic partner of Bulgaria in the South Caucasus region and in - the wide region of the Black Sea.
This is what President Rumen Radev stated in an interview with the analytical economic magazine "Caspian Energy", news.bg reported.
He notes that the intense bilateral political dialogue in recent years is a testimony to the deepening relationship.
When asked about the potential for the development of relations between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan, the president stated the readiness of our country to upgrade the economic partnership both bilaterally and in the context of strategic energy cooperation with the EU, which provides opportunities for reliable gas supplies for the Central and Eastern Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor.
The joint declaration on strengthening the strategic partnership between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan, which we signed with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku in May this year, reflects our common will to expand the scope of our partnership in priority areas such as energy and connectivity and to give impetus to the development in other areas, he points out.
In his words, connectivity in all its dimensions - energy, infrastructure, transport, digital and technology - is key to promoting sustainable economic growth, competitiveness and development, as well as increasing our resilience in the context of a volatile security environment.
The head of state highlights Bulgaria's commitment to improving energy connectivity together with Azerbaijan and a number of Eastern European countries. He points out that these efforts and initiatives increase the security not only of Bulgaria, but also of the region of the Western Balkans, of Ukraine and Moldova, and of Europe as a whole. Radev gives the example of the "Solidarity Ring" project, which allows security of supply and diversification for Central and South-Eastern Europe in a fast, efficient and affordable way of additional quantities of gas from Azerbaijan.
The president considers the opening of an office of the state oil company of Azerbaijan SOCAR in Sofia as a positive step.
He points to the need to promote contacts between businesses and the prospects for developing long-term and mutually beneficial partnerships in the fields of high-tech and high-value-added industries, unmanned aerial vehicles, the automotive sector and clean technologies.
Radev points out that in recent years Bulgaria has been developing sectors such as robotics and mechatronics to encourage investments in machinery and automation in various sectors. He adds that the largest share of Bulgaria's total exports is electronics.
"Bulgaria is rapidly expanding industrial zones in various regions, which encourages investments in new sectors with high added value and contributes to the realization of Bulgarian and foreign projects,", the president stated.
As promising for the expansion of bilateral relations, he also defines joint investments in defense, in export-oriented areas such as industrial equipment, products of the food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and perfumery industries.
In the context of Azerbaijan's hosting of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, President Radev points to the need for cooperation for a timely response to the changing climate and strengthening the resilience of countries.
He points out that Bulgaria has made significant progress in reducing greenhouse emissions. According to him, the transition to a climate-neutral and circular economy must be socially just.