President of Latvia Egils Levits met with the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, in Sofia on 8 July. Bulgaria is this year’s host of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) summit, and presidents of the two countries met to discuss the increasing role of 3SI in the region and the whole Europe.
President of Latvia praised the good bilateral relations between Latvia and Bulgaria, and mutual cooperation within the framework of the European Union (EU) and NATO. In 2022, Latvia and Bulgaria will mark the centenary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries.
President Levits thanked Bulgaria for all the hard effort that has gone into organising the Three Seas Summit. ‘Three Seas Initiative is an important geopolitical and economic tool, which will boost the connectivity between the 12 participating EU member states located around the Baltic, Adriatic and the Black Sea. United States of America, European Commission and Germany, our strategic partners, have an important role to play in facilitating the implementation of agreed transport, digital and energy infrastructure projects,’ Egils Levits emphasised.
President Radev echoed President Levits’ statements and added that in addition to delivering infrastructure projects, 3SI should strengthen the cooperation between participating countries in the field of research and education. Both presidents agreed on the need to continue efforts to raise funding for 3SI Investment Fund from international financial institutions and private equity firms, on top of state funding available.
Meeting also focused on current situation in Ukraine and Belarus, as well as Bulgaria’s position on the future enlargement of the European Union.