Ivan Kondov at the G7+ foreign ministers' meeting: Bulgaria remains fully committed to providing assistance in Ukraine's energy sector
23 September 2024 News
In the framework of his visit to New York, Ivan Kondov took part today in the G7+ Foreign Ministers' meeting on support for Ukraine's energy sector.
The meeting was co-hosted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (as rotating chair of the G7 in 2024).
On the background of intensifying Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure ahead of the upcoming winter heating season, the discussion at the Foreign Ministers' Forum focused on identifying Ukraine's immediate needs and coordinating the efforts of the G7+ countries over the next six months.
In his speech at the meeting, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister pointed out that Russia's full-scale military aggression against Ukraine, which has been ongoing for two and a half years now, is causing severe damage to civilian and critical civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine, causing death, human suffering, massive destruction, displacement and growing humanitarian needs - actions that seriously threaten the stability and security of the Black Sea region, Europe and the world. ‘Ukraine is a member of the democratic world and deserves our continued collective and multilateral support. We welcome all efforts to coordinate, collect and channel such assistance’, Kondov told the forum.
He recalled that Bulgaria has been consistently supporting Ukraine in all dimensions - political, financial, military, humanitarian and diplomatic - since the very beginning of this unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression and stated our country's determination to continue doing so to the best of its ability for as long as necessary. A key component of Bulgaria's support for Ukraine is the efforts in the energy sector.
Our first diplomat underlined our country's commitment to actively support Ukraine's energy security and to expand bilateral energy cooperation with Ukraine and recalled that during President Zelensky's visit to Bulgaria in July 2023 a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of energy was signed between the Ministries of Energy of Bulgaria and Ukraine and two joint working groups were established - on natural gas and nuclear energy. In his words, these are precisely those decisive steps, taken in difficult times, which truly demonstrate our support and solidarity with the Ukrainian people in their self-defence against the Russian aggressor. ‘Bulgaria remains fully committed to providing assistance in Ukraine’s energy sector as well as in all other sectors where our help is needed’, he concluded.
The meeting concluded with a joint statement by the foreign ministers of the G7+ countries in which they strongly condemned the ongoing attacks by Russia against Ukraine's energy and civilian infrastructure, which seriously threaten the country's energy security and the access of the people of Ukraine to critical services, and reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and their determination to work for a full, just and lasting peace based on international law and UN principles,
The G7+ format was established in the framework of the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting on 4 November 2022 and serves as a platform to improve international coordination for the provision of equipment and financial support for Ukraine's energy system. Representatives of a number of international organisations such as the European Union, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Energy Community and the United Nations Development Programme are also participating in the format. In December 2022. Bulgaria was invited for the first time to participate at expert level, together with the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
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