Bulgaria's PM Denkov, Ukraine’s Deputy PM Svyrydenko discuss import and transit of sunflower

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Nikolay Denkov, and Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Yulia Svyrydenko, on January 16 discussed the cooordination of import and transit of sunflower seeds from Ukraine. The two spoke on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Denkov and Svyrydenko have confirmed that the licensing regime for the import and transit of Ukrainian grain, agreed in the autumn of 2023, will continue to be respected in line with the interest of Bulgarian grain producers, but also with that of sunflower oil producers.

At the innovation panel in which the PM participated, he said that Europe needs to catch up in innovation development, having fallen behind regions such as the US.

"Europe was a leading scientific power in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, but then the US and Asia realised faster than we did that we should not pit basic against applied science. These regions have invested in the development of market-oriented science, which is paying dividends. In doing so, they have attracted talent from Europe and created an ecosystem where science and innovation are linked. They did it faster than Europe," Nikolay Denkov said.

Deputy Prime Minister, Mariya Gabriel, highlighted the benefits of EU enlargement. She said that citizens of countries that want to join should not feel like second-class citizens.

"We should learn from the previous wave of enlargement. I give the example of Bulgaria. We had a cooperation and verification mechanism for more than 10 years which was closed a year ago. The rule of law and democracy are important. Also, Bulgaria and Romania are not in Schengen? Why? All technical criteria have been met since 11 years ago", said Mariya Gabriel, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.