At the beginning of the meeting the President of Russia noted that Russian-Greek cooperation, and first and foremost economic cooperation, is increasing: bilateral trade exceeds three billion dollars.
When speaking about the trans-Balkan Burgas – Alexandroupolis pipeline project, Vladimir Putin emphasised this project’s importance for the world economy. The Russian head of state described the project as a major contribution towards developing energy, since it will diversify and expand the amount of Russian energy supplies to the world market.
Konstantinos Karamanlis called the present Russian-Bulgarian-Greek meeting in Athens a milestone in the development of the three countries’ relations and the signing of the agreement on the Burgas – Alexandroupolis project a historic event.