AGERPRES special corespondent Doroteea Purcarea reports: Romania’s Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said Wednesday that hopefully the natural gas interconnector to be built on the bed of the Danube River could be ready in some months’ time.
“Some days ago, a contract was signed for the construction of the gas interconnector on the Danube River’s bed and we hope, according to the terms of the contract, that the work will be complete in some months’ time, anyhow by the end of this autumn, as it is an essential component to establish a joint natural gas distribution and transmission network in the region,” Ciolos said at the Bulgarian Government’s House in Sofia after a meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov.
PM Borissov said in his turn that the works development will be monitored by him and Ciolos, so that the interconnector may be ready for operation in two-three months’ time.
“As far as the gas interconnector is concerned, as you may know, there used to be some barriers to its building, but two days ago we signed an agreement for its construction and the deadline for its commissioning was set at two-three months’ time (…) and we will monitor the process,” said Borissov.
On the other hand, Ciolos said that Romania is supporting Bulgaria’s endeavours against illegal migration, adding that Bulgaria behaves like a member state of the border-free Schengen Area.
“I told [the Bulgarian prime minister] that he has our full support also for the measures he takes against illegal migration. (…) We have noticed that in terms of border security and defence, Bulgaria behaves like a full member of the Schengen Area, same as Romania does. We have undertaken these responsibilities, and Bulgaria doing its job well in protecting EU’s external border is an advantage both to the European Union and Romania,” said Ciolos.
Also discussed at the meeting of the two prime ministers on the side-lines of a summit meeting of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) were cooperation between Romania and Bulgaria inside NATO, preparations for the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw and harmonising positions in support of strengthening NATO’s eastern flank.
For the consolidation of bilateral cooperation, the two prime ministers decided to resume ministerial meetings at the end of this summer as well as joint meetings of the two national governments, patterned on the models of the years before. More…