We begin the ceremony of signing a bilateral agreement. The agreement on cooperation in the field of security between Ukraine and the Republic of Bulgaria is signed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Andrey Gyurov.
Thank you very much, dear Prime Minister. Thank you for your visit, thank you for all the meetings and the important agreements. Today, we signed a security agreement between our countries with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria. Our teams worked on this for a long period, and I am very glad that we have this ten-year agreement between our states. The key points I would personally like to highlight are the continuation of military support from Bulgaria to Ukraine. An important point we also discussed today is joint production on the territory of our countries of various weapons, including drones. And here I want to thank you for agreeing that Bulgaria will use the SAFE program for such co-production. We are grateful for this. I believe this strengthens both our countries, both our nations. Energy is also very important. We are working to establish an active energy corridor. I am grateful for today's conversation and for the productive work of our ministers, primarily the energy ministers. This corridor will be technically set up, we hope, by the end of the year. For us today, this is very important, at least it can be an alternative if there are certain blockages from some European representatives. As you know, regarding gas, this corridor could allow Ukraine to receive around 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year. For us, these are also energy security guarantees. I am grateful for this. I am also grateful for the positive signal that Bulgaria is joining the Pearl program. The signal itself is important. Second, it is an opportunity for us to strengthen our air defense strategy, especially before the next heating season. We went through a very difficult winter, and I am grateful for this. We discussed various issues, our good neighborliness, constructive relations. We all see this. I am grateful for the direct, transparent, and clear support from Bulgaria for our future accession to the European Union. Thank you for such a consistent policy. Thank you for this visit, for all the meetings, and regarding our parliament, regarding our Prime Minister. Thank you. Welcome.
Thank you, Mr. President. It is an honor to be here. Our delegation is here as a sign that Bulgaria continues to stand firmly with Ukraine. Personally, I would like to say that your courage and dedication serve as an example not only for the Ukrainian people but also as a moral compass for the free world. We support Ukraine's efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace. You can count on our support in this. Because we believe that security for Ukraine today means security for Europe. Today, the President and I signed a security cooperation agreement, which has been in preparation for a long time. I am glad that we were able to do it this time. This is not just a formality; it is joint work in the dimension of our common Euro-Atlantic security. We, as the government, also approved a national contribution to NATO's L mechanism. This is solidarity in action. It is something we believe will strengthen Europe's overall security. Another key issue we discussed today is security in the Black Sea, in the Black Sea region. We greatly appreciate the extensive experience Ukraine has accumulated in protecting critical infrastructure and ensuring freedom of navigation in the Black Sea to such an extent that we consider Ukraine a key factor in ensuring security not only in the Black Sea region but for the entire eastern flank of NATO. Another thing we did today concerned the cultural front. We signed a protocol regarding the school in Bolhrad and Gregory of Savva. I think it is very important that we signed this document. It is the largest Bulgarian diaspora historically abroad. We are very pleased that we have ensured these people will continue to have the opportunity to receive their education in the Bulgarian language. We look forward to continuing our cooperation in this direction. Regarding the economic front, we identified many different areas of cooperation in defense, technology transfer, innovation, but also in the energy sector. You mentioned the vertical gas corridor and also the railway connection between Alexandroupolis and Odesa. This is important not only for energy diversification but also for the entire eastern flank of NATO. So you can count on Bulgaria continuing to be a stable and predictable partner that will support your defense, but also the reconstruction of Ukraine when this war finally ends. We look forward to continuing our joint work in Europe and NATO.
Mr. Prime Minister, a question for you regarding energy support for Ukraine. A few years ago, the issue of Bulgarian reactors on Bulgarian territory was relevant for Ukraine. The question is whether Bulgaria is ready to transfer or sell these reactors to Ukraine, and are negotiations on pricing policy currently underway? Thank you.
I don't think price is the main problem right now. The issue is that, as you know, Bulgaria is expecting elections in three weeks. Therefore, our interim government has the main task of preparing fair and honest elections. Of course, we are actively communicating with our energy counterparts here in Ukraine. We are discussing the possibilities of transferring ownership of these reactors to Ukraine. At this moment, there is a vote in parliament which states that any transfer of ownership must be approved by parliament. So it is a question of whether the parliament will do it now or later; it is a question of electoral mathematics.
My question, if you wanted to answer it, is regarding the security agreement you just signed. Given that it is designed for 10 years, could you go a bit deeper into this agreement? What types of cooperation between Bulgaria and Ukraine are provided for in this agreement in the defense sector, and what are our obligations? This question is for Mr. Gyurov regarding this agreement. I think the obligation of both sides is to be strong and guarantee maximum security to their population in such a time when you do not know where aggression might go next in the world. We see this today in the Middle East. Yesterday, countries in the Middle East and the Gulf did not even expect that their states, which are quite strong, economically strong, with a strong financial sector, international support, strong tourism, would be massively attacked by drones. And unfortunately, the war is not over yet. We do not know what will happen tomorrow. God willing, this war will end. Similarly, during this war, Russia provides intelligence to the Iranian regime and also provides drones. We understand this, photographing civilian infrastructure bases with satellites and passing them to the Iranian side. Not for anything positive, I think, primarily for strikes. These are proven facts. Furthermore, another fact is when we saw that in Eastern Europe, borders were crossed not accidentally due to electronic warfare activities and errors, but deliberately, with more than 20 drones in one operation over Poland. Russia threatened NATO and European Union countries. It will continue to do this, it will intensify this. And I believe it is important to show strategic relations, strategic agreements between countries in this region. Security in the Black Sea is very important. We started working on this without Russia and built this security corridor in the Black Sea. This is important, I am confident, for us, for Romania, for Bulgaria, for Turkey, and for the countries where exports go, as well as for us, for all of us, when we import certain products. Overall, security in the Black Sea is very important. Now we need to engage in demining. There is a format that includes Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey. I think the moment will come when Ukraine will also be invited by our partners, because we have the experience of what to do with this. All these things are embedded in our agreement. This is much longer. For example, when we talk today about ten-year agreements with Middle Eastern countries. Why 10 years? Because you need time, technologies change, you need to work on underground production lines for various drones. Drones can change, security must be. We are talking about systematizing our relations and giving such a term: God willing, we will stick to this term and have good neighborliness. We are showing everyone that we support security in this region politically and not only. Next, we are talking about the vertical corridor. The Prime Minister spoke in sufficient detail about the vertical corridor from Greece along the region. And we are very interested in this. Bulgaria will play one of the key roles here. This is also a long-term, relatively long-term project. This is also about security. Energy, you see, is constantly under attack in Ukraine. This does not mean it will not be under attack in the region from the Russian side. These are important things. Also, when we talk about blocks, the Prime Minister was asked this question. In my opinion, we are simply giving signals that we are ready to continue cooperation in the direction of blocks for the nuclear power plant. Why? We have nuclear power plants, everything is calculated for this. Russia has taken, occupied six blocks of nuclear generation in Ukraine. This energy is quite cheap, it could help Ukrainians and export this help to other countries, including Eastern Europe and Moldova, which suffers from a large deficit. Today we cannot do this, there is not enough. But all the infrastructure is built. Two blocks that could bring help to Ukraine, Bulgaria, bring money, bring help to people, should work in our opinion. But today the decision is on the Bulgarian side, there are certainly challenges, there is a time for this. Thank you.
