Second day of PM Medvedev's visit to Bulgaria

The second day of Dmitry Medvedev's visit to Bulgaria on 5^th of March was dedicated to tourism. Both Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Russia’s Prime Minister have again raised the topic of Russian visas and easing the overall visa regime.

During the visit, Moscow again clearly stated its interest in the second nuclear power plant. According to estimates by the state-owned company Rosatom, the initial investment in the project will be 1.5 billion euros. But then the investment will increase, Russia explained. Bulgaria estimates the project at a total of 9 billion, given an implementation for 8 years.

The Bulgarian gas distribution hub “Balkan” is not among the projects that Russia plans to support in the region. This was announced by Gazprom President Alexey Miller to the Russian agency TASS.

The Bulgarian Energy Ministry has explained that they are aware of Moscow's decision, but will continue with the implementation of the project. Currently, 17.8 billion cubic meters of gas pass in transit from Russia through Bulgaria to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia. Bulgaria, in turn, consumes nearly 3 billion a year, with double the capacity of the network. According to the project for the Bulgarian part of Turkish Stream, it should link Provadia to the border with Serbia.

On the second day of the Russian Prime Minister's visit on 5^th of March, the number one topic in the talks between Sofia and Moscow was tourism, discussed at a joint business forum. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov explained that he had agreed with Medvedev that in future there would be a ferry between Bourgas and Novorossiysk The visa regime for Russian tourists has been highlighted.

Medvedev has stressed that Russia is now ready with a new modern visa system to facilitate the entry of foreign citizens in the country. However, he regretted that there was no progress in the relationship on this issue with Brussels.

Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of Russia: When we talk about the European Union, at one point, the negotiations on easing the visa regime had advanced, but all this has slowed down and we have not achieved any remarkable results. But I think that if we talk about normal tourist communication, we cannot achieve it with visas, without normal ways for entry and exit, including electronic visas and the availability of electronic visas.

Bulgaria reported a decrease of Russian tourists last year by 8%, and a drop in early bookings for this year by 25%. Russia explained why.

Maksim Oreshkin, Russian Minister of Economic Development: The reason is that the Bulgarian BGN is pegged to the euro. This makes trips to Bulgaria expensive by between 15 and 20% compared to Tunisia and Turkey. This leads to a decrease in the competitiveness of the Bulgarian tourist product.

At the end of the forum, Prime Minister Borissov called for new negotiations at European Union - Russia level.

Boyko Borissov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria: Unfortunately, the sanctions have a very strong impact on agriculture, we are losing hundreds of millions there, and I have always insisted on returning to the negotiating table, to end these ever-increasing conflicts and therefore we have talked for long with my counterpart about the threats that exist both in the region and in the world.

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