Bulgaria and Türkiye hold key economic talks in Ankara

Prime Minister Rumen Radev met in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.  Following the talks, Bulgaria's State-owned gas supplier Bulgargaz and Türkiye's BOTAS signed a protocol suspending their gas supply agreement for 15 months. During this period, Bulgaria will pay only for the capacity it actually uses under improved commercial terms, according to the press office of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers.

• Rumen Radev meets Recep Erdoğan in Ankara

The two sides agreed that Bulgaria and Türkiye share a common interest in maximizing the use of the natural gas transmission capacity. The two countries will work on renegotiating the contract between the two companies in line with current market conditions, the statement said.

The contract between Bulgargaz and BOTAŞ was signed on January 3, 2023, at the height of the energy crisis that followed the suspension of Russian gas supplies to Bulgaria. However, the deal has since become one of the country's most controversial energy projects. The main criticism concerns the substantial fixed fees for reserved transmission capacity, much of which remains unused, resulting in the accumulation of significant financial liabilities for the Bulgarian side.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov