In Sofia, K. Mitsotakis for bilateral meetings with Petkov and Radev

LAST UPDATE: 09.00

The prime minister is arriving in Sofia shortly to hold bilateral meetings with both his newly elected Bulgarian counterpart Kirill Petkov and President Rumen Radev. Mr. Mitsotakis is the first European leader to visit Bulgaria since the formation of a new government under Kirill Petkov, indicative of the importance the government attaches, as officials say, to relations with the neighboring country and their desire to deepen, as well as importance to ensuring stability and growth in the Western Balkans and their European perspective.

As executives note, Greece is in favor of holding the EU intergovernmental conferences as soon as possible. with Northern Macedonia and Albania, with the aim of consolidating stability in the wider region. Greece firmly supports the European perspective of the Western Balkans, provided that the countries meet the conditions and criteria for accession, including good neighborly relations.

The agenda of the meetings that Kyriakos Mitsotakis will have with his Bulgarian counterpart and the Bulgarian President will include bilateral cooperation with emphasis on the energy and transport sectors, the prospects for the completion of the IGB gas pipeline, and Turkey’s behavior in Eastern Mediterranean, the Immigrant, as both Greece and Bulgaria belong to the front line countries and the evolution of the pandemic, especially in view of the Omicron mutation.