Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov, who is paying an official visit to Turkmenistan, conferred with his Turkmenistan counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow. The two heads of state discussed opportunities for promoting bilateral relations and cooperation in the energy sector.
Turkmenistan has the world's fifth largest reserve of natural gas and is a potential supplier for the Nabucco gas pipeline, which is a key project for the European Union. Neither Turkmenistan nor Bulgaria has made any investments in the other country so far.
On the agenda of the visit is a bilateral business forum, the signing of a bilateral agreement on economic cooperation, a memorandum of understanding in the energy sector and an agreement on cooperation between the two countries' chambers of commerce and industry. This is the first visit of a Bulgarian head of state in the former Soviet Republic since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Turkmenistan since 1992.