Off the wire
• Roundup: Vietnam hails Chinese winner of 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine  • Roundup: Two scientists share 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics  • Bangladesh puts border forces on "highest alert" following killings  • Spain's housing sales rise by 24.2 pct in August  • Feature: Year of China-UK Culture Exchange: wonderful Jiangsu meets Cambridge  • Danish PM calls for stop to economic migrants influx  • Russian actions in Syria aim for political settlement: Kremlin  • Japanese scientist shares 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on neutrinos  • 3rd LD Writethru: Two scientists share 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics  • 2 dead, 20 injured in bus-truck collision in Ukraine  
You are here: 　 Home

Bulgarian, Albanian leaders call for improving infrastructure, business cooperation

Xinhua, October 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and his visiting Albanian counterpart Bujar Nishani on Tuesday called for improving transport and energy connectivity, and expanding business cooperation between the two countries.

Bulgaria and Albania want to have a direct highway, rail line and airline linking the two countries. The nations are not direct neighbors but the distance that separates them is only 300 km, Plevneliev told a joint press conference after bilateral talks.

"We would also like to have a gas link and a common energy network in terms of supply of electricity," Plevneliev said.

Currently, a gas link between Albania, Montenegro and Serbia is under construction, he said.

Bulgaria would make a serious effort to join it because the country has traditionally exported electricity to countries in the region, Plevneliev added.

Albania is also a prospective Bulgaria's partner in trade and investment, with bilateral turnover amounting to 80 million euros (90 million U.S. dollars) last year, and a seven-fold increase in the number of Bulgarian tourists were visiting Albania in the period over 2013, Plevneliev said.

In turn, Nishani said there are many areas of mutual interest, and the two governments have to create the necessary environment for business development, particularly for Bulgarian business in Albania. Endit