Final day of Sixth Summit of Three Seas Initiative: Bulgaria’s President called for more effective fight against corruption

Second, final day of the Sixth Summit of the Three Seas Initiative on July 9. Bulgaria’s President Rumen Radev called for more effective methods to combat corruption and for greater media freedom.

The forum ended with the adoption of a political declaration in which the presidents expressed their will to accelerate the development of the region by improving transport and energy connectivity.

The summit in Sofia ended with the handing over of the flag of the Three Seas initiative to Latvia, the next host country of the initiative. President Rumen Radev noted that the joint declaration adopted by Sofia expresses the common political will for accelerated development of the region.

In the declaration, the presidents expressed their will for enhanced development of the region by improving transport and energy connectivity by stimulating public-private partnerships and new innovative development models. All praised the Bulgarian hosting. The President of Latvia received the flag of the initiative. Egils Levits announced that Riga will work to attract more investment in specific infrastructure projects.

"We will focus on private investment. Public investment is very important for our initiatives, but it is not enough," said Latvian President Egils Levits.

His words were also supported by the Romanian president.

"We want infrastructure connectivity along the North-South axis. We have good news, the investment fund is developing, there are investments that are being made, but for large infrastructure projects we need a special approach," said Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

Polish President Andrzej Duda recalled where the countries of Central and Eastern Europe started from after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

"We understood that we had to catch up with the West in our development and achieve real cohesion within the European Union, we wanted to have the same conditions as in Western Europe, to develop business," Polish President Andrzej Duda added.

True socio-economic cohesion between Eastern and Western Europe cannot be achieved without common projects in science and education, President Radev said. He announced that an agreement had been reached within the forum to build a partnership between the innovation agencies.

"That is why I am glad that this forum, within these two days, managed to reach an agreement to build a partnership between the innovation agencies of our countries. I think this is a great sign for the future, it is a great sign to our young people, to make sure that we can develop their potential in our countries ", commented President Rumen Radev.

According to him, in order for projects to be effective, it is necessary to rely on intelligent solutions and innovative models. And he gave an example with the Bulgarian motorways.

"I want to see the same standard in terms of quality, price, sustainability, reliability and safety on Bulgarian motorways, which we see in Romania, Poland, Latvia and Austria. Why not work for uniform standards of quality and safety," the Bulgarian head of state noted.

Rumen Radev: We highly appreciate the support of the United States, Germany and the European Commission

Radev recalled the words of the American president from yesterday about strengthening democracies and the effective fight against corruption.

"This means that in addition to infrastructure, we must work to strengthen our statehood, to uphold the rule of law, to promote more effective methods of combating corruption, to create conditions for greater freedom of the media. Where the media are free, there is prosperity and less corruption," Rumen Radev added.

The forum ended with the validation of a postage stamp on the occasion of the Bulgarian presidency of the "Three Seas" initiative. President Radev also held bilateral meetings with Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager, who also took part in the forum.

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