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Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov

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Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr President, colleagues, it is my pleasure to welcome you in Moscow.

We have many anniversaries to mark despite any recessionary developments. Our economic links are becoming stronger, and our political contacts are maintained at a high level.

We have a number of practical issues to address. I know that you have paid much attention to streamlining financial relations and addressing some social issues. As far as I understand, they are being resolved to mutual satisfaction. Above all, this concerns the payment of pensions to our citizens who permanently live either in Bulgaria or in the Russian Federation.

Certainly, major projects in nuclear energy, hydrocarbon development, including the well-known South Stream project, have attained particular significance. I think we'll be able to discuss all these issues.

I am glad to meet with you here in Moscow.

Georgi Parvanov: Mr Prime Minister, delegation members,

I am glad that we have an opportunity to meet in the course of our current visit.

The reason for our meeting is a joyful and pleasant one. It is the inauguration of the Year of Bulgaria in Russia.

I am even more pleased to have managed to conduct a series of business talks, which were on the whole very productive.

We had been discussing a range of matters for years, and, fortunately, they were finally resolved today. I would like to express satisfaction on behalf of the Bulgarian side that you eventually found a solution to the debt issue and reached the final stage in settling the social security issue.

We should now focus on practical steps to implement the package of projects we signed last year in Sofia. By that I mean accelerating the work on the South Stream pipeline, the Belene nuclear power plant, and of course the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline.

I would be glad if we could concentrate on the energy projects during our talks, including projects connected with Bulgaria's gas independence.

The negotiations we conducted during the current visit outlined the range of matters in which our positions coincide. I hope that our conversation will be equally fruitful. Thank you.