A day after the landmark visit of British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond to Sofia, a second important visit took place - that of US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday. This was his first official visit since he took office. The US top diplomat has had talks with Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov. "Bulgaria and the United States reaffirmed their strategic partnership," said PM Borissov after the meeting. According to him, topics of discussion were regional and global challenges of political nature, as well as cooperation in the sphere of defense and security.

“Among the focuses of the Bulgarian-US dialogue was diversification of energy sources.”It is very important that the sovereignty of Bulgaria is respected,” John Kerry said. Bulgaria deserves better energy security and better prices in case that "South Stream" pipeline is not implemented. I believe that Russia will abandon ideas of revenge and would start looking for other solutions. The US will support the energy independence of Bulgaria in the difficult situation in which it was placed, after Russia cancelled the South Stream project,” Mr. Kerry added.

On the topic of shale gas extraction Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said Bulgaria's position remained unchanged:

"We have repeatedly stated that there is a moratorium on shale gas exploration. The moratorium would remain valid until a process that guarantees 100% environmental safety was found.” On the topic of plans for the construction of a seventh unit at the Kozloduy NPP by US-company Westinghouse, the Bulgarian Prime Minister said a working group was formed. “I have clearly said that this company should be an investor in the project, including U.S. Ex-Im Bank, in order to find such a financial scheme, so that the project does not make the budget deficit grow.”

Bulgaria and the United States agreed to establish four working groups in key areas such as security and defense, energy security, the rule of law, education and relations between the two peoples. The question of introducing visa-free regime for Bulgarian citizens traveling to the United States received a familiar response. According to U.S. legislation, the visa regime can be lifted if not more than 3 percent of visa applications received a negative response. In Bulgaria the level in 2014 was 15 percent.

English: Alexander Markov