On 8 May, Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, held an expanded meeting with Rumen Radev, President of the Republic of Bulgaria.

Addressing the meeting President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Mr. President, members of the delegation, welcome once again.

I am very glad to see my dear friend, President Radev, visiting us again. As you know, we maintain regular contacts, and the exchange of mutual visits has become a good tradition. I am glad that we will continue our fruitful discussions and further strengthen our partnership.

During our meeting, we discussed different aspects of our cooperation with Mr. President, focusing on achieving new results. I know that the members of our delegations have already interacted, some yesterday, some today. We have a lot of things to discuss. The agenda is really very broad and there are strong political ties. Today, we will sign a declaration to strengthen our strategic partnership. Our economic, energy, and transportation sectors are in the very good shape. I mean our partnership and of course humanitarian ties. Representatives from Veliko Tarnovo and Shusha, two cities that signed a cooperation agreement, contribute to the substantial part of our cooperation.

We are glad that Bulgaria and Azerbaijan are working closely on energy security issues, with gas supplies to Bulgaria growing. And hopefully, we will see further growth this year, as we continue to work together on the green agenda. I have invited Mr. President to participate in COP29, and we would be happy to see him again in November. At the same time, our teams are working closely on the green energy cable project. I am sure the results of the visit will be fruitful and our partnership will successfully continue. Once again, Mr. President, welcome to Azerbaijan.

XXX

President Rumen Radev said:

- Mr. President, my good friend Ilham, thank you for your traditionally warm hospitality. I remember for the last two years this is our fourth visit, and meeting together. This is very good because the high level political contacts pave the way for developing all the areas of our mutual interests. We are more than pleased with the established cooperation in the energy sector. We have done a lot throughout these two years. Thank you for taking part in the opening of the SOCAR office and in the official launch of an interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria. Also in your presence we signed the Solidarity Ring initiative and the memorandum between the gas transmission operators of Bulgaria Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, and SOCAR. It is implemented in accordance with the strategic vision of the European Commission and strategic memorandum you signed with the President of the European Commission in 2022.

So, we are very pleased that we can work together with Azerbaijan for transporting additional quantities of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. It is obvious that working together we strengthen, not just our bilateral cooperation, it is for the stability and economic development of the Caucasus and Black Sea region. It is for strengthening the energy security of Europe as a whole. And there are a lot of new opportunities. I am very glad that we have very strong business delegation and continue working on some leading projects.