President Rosen Plevneliev today received Richard Morningstar, Special Envoy of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on energy issues for Europe and Eurasia, at 2 Dondoukov Boulevard.

At the meeting, President Plevneliev told Mr Morningstar that Bulgaria is committed to achieving energy independence. The President emphasised that the security of energy supply is crucial for Bulgaria and is an important factor in foreign investors’ decisions whether to set up in Bulgaria. "This means that Bulgaria must pursue the diversification of routes for transportation of energy resources and liberalization of the energy sector,” the President said.

Richard Morningstar said that European countries need full transparency and diversification in the energy sector. He emphasised that as an independent country, Bulgaria should set its own priorities in nuclear energy, gas supply, the development of renewable energy and other alternative energy sources.

The meeting noted Bulgaria’s desire to speed up work on the transmission network linking this country with those of neighbouring countries. Tthe importance of the transfer of energy resources to Europe within the framework of the “Southern Corridor” was discussed. Rosen Plevneliev and Richard Morningstar agreed that it was in the interest of Europe that as many as possible of these projects should be implemented.