JOHN KERRY: “AMERICA IS COMMITTED TO A STRONG AND SOVEREIGN BULGARIA”

“America is committed to a strong and a sovereign Bulgaria”. That was the message conveyed by the US Secretary of State, John F. Kerry, during his official visit to Bulgaria on 15th of January.

“We covered many grounds, including security cooperation, energy diversification, rule of law and the relations between our nations”, said Kerry after the meetings with Bulgaria’s President and Prime Minister. Kerry noted that four working groups would be established to deepen and strengthen the partnership between Bulgaria and the USA in all these key areas.

One of the areas in which progress has been made is within collective security, Kerry remarked. He added that Bulgaria and the USA would ramp up conducting joint exercises and implementing NATO’s Readiness Action Plan. He said that the US committed itself to working with Bulgaria and other allies to help Bulgaria modernize its Armed Forces and make them more interoperable with NATO.

Another area of the discussions was practical steps to enhance energy security in Bulgaria and across Europe. Kerry said that diversification of supplies was necessary and America was committed to assisting Bulgaria in that process. Kerry added that he and PM Borissov discussed specific steps in that direction.

As a response to a question about investment opportunities in Bulgaria’s energy sector, Kerry said that the US would send an energy envoy to work with Bulgaria’s Ministry of Energy to develop a plan on the country’s energy future and that the “Export-Import Bank” would be engaged in discussions in order to assist in that process, as well as the energy expert.

PM Borissov said that everyone, including the Americans are aware of the Bulgarian government’s position regarding shale gas exploration and possible extracting. He reiterated that there is a moratorium on the issue because the fields are located in the most fertile places in Bulgaria.