Ukraine sees Bulgaria as a friendly country and reliable partner – a meeting of Heads of Government of the two States

Ukraine sees Bulgaria as a friendly country and a reliable partner in Southeastern Europe. Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman made this statement during a meeting with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Boyko Borissov. Bulgaria is now presiding over the European Union, and this is a first visit of the Bulgarian Prime Minister to Ukraine.

"I am pleased to note that the development of bilateral relations between our two countries demonstrates a positive tendency", Volodymyr Groysman emphasized.

"Our negotiations are important. We see a great potential in developing our joint projects, especially in logistics", the Prime Minister of Bulgaria noted.

The parties commended most of the bilateral agreements reached at the previous high-level meetings were successfully implemented. The issues at stake are launch of direct air  and railway connections, the implementation of a high-tech project  for the Kozloduy NPP, as well as the issue of the exclusion of Bulgaria from the list of countries subject to transfer price formation rules.

Positive dynamics are observed in bilateral trade: in the first quarter of this year, trade turnover between Ukraine and Bulgaria amounted to 190.5 million dollars. Therefore, the efforts of the parties to improve these indicators will be usefull. In this context, the sides have planned  to discuss the possibility of holding a meeting of the Joint Ukrainian-Bulgarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation by the end of the year.

The sides touched upon issues pertaining to the cooperation in energy sector. Volodymyr Groysman stressed that Ukraine stands ready to share its best practices in searching for alternative suppliers of nuclear fuel for VVER-440 reactors as well as to cooperate with Bulgaria in the gas transportation sphere. A particular attention was devoted to the collaboration in tourism sector.

Background

Bulgaria is an important market for Ukrainian products and the largest trade and economic partner of Ukraine in the Balkan region. In 2017, a foreign trade between Ukraine and Bulgaria showed growth dynamics. According to the results of 2017, a mutual trade amounted to 650 million dollars. The main articles of Ukrainian exports are metals, products of mechanical engineering, wood products. The Bulgarian side considers cooperation in pharmaceuticals, tourism, transport and energy sectors as  promising areas.