President Radev: Greece and Cyprus are natural extention of the “Three Seas” initiative

president radev greece cyprus natural extention ldquothree seasrdquo initiative

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17:40, 19.10.2020

In Tallinn, President Rumen Radev took part in the summit of the Three Seas regional co-operation initiative.

At a special ceremony on October 19, he will take over the rotating presidency of the initiative's next meeting from the Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid. The Bulgarian head of state will propose the initiative to expand geographically with Greece and Cyprus and to focus on educational and scientific connectivity.

The aim of the Three Seas initiative is to create better transport, energy and digital connectivity along the North-South axis. And the participants in the meeting discussed the progress on these topics.

The Three Seas initiative was set up in 2015 and brings together 12 EU member states located between the Adriatic, Baltic and Black Seas. The aim is to achieve sustainability and economic growth through joint projects.

During the period in which Bulgaria will host the initiative, President Rumen Radev proposes to add educational and scientific connections to the priorities so far.

"We cannot think only in terms of laying pipes and asphalts. Not only this is the future. Yes, infrastructure is important, but if we want to have an economy of the future, we must invest in scientific and educational connectivity, in capacity building and connectivity between our youth research teams, organizations, universities," said Radev.

The President sees infrastructure connectivity as a means to achieve the great goal of sustainable economic growth and a better standard of living based on an accelerated transition to a green and digital economy. It also proposes to extend the geographical scope of the initiative.

"We have no interest in staying on the geographical periphery and the infrastructure, energy and digital routes ending at our border. They should continue to our partners. Therefore, Greece and Cyprus are a natural extention of this initiative." he said.

President Radev has held talks with the leaders of the two countries and they are ready to respond to such an invitation. According to him, it is necessary to attract more funds for the Investment Fund of the initiative. Poland has joined with EUR 500 million, for Bulgaria and other countries so far the minimum is at EUR 20 million. The United States has pledged to invest $ 1 billion if everyone is involved financially. According to the President, the amount is critically small for the planned projects, so more funds will be sought.

The President met with the ambassadors of the countries from the "Three Seas" initiative.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting was held in compliance with the necessary measures, and most of the participants joined the meeting remotely.