Bulgarian presidency in the Three Seas Initiative

04 February 2021

During the Three Seas Initiative summit in Tallin, held on 19th October 2020, the Republic of Bulgaria, represented by the President Rumen Radev, officially took over the presidency in the Initiative. Apart from the President of Bulgaria, President of the Republic of Poland also participated in the summit. Representatives of other countries took part in the event remotely.

Due to the Bulgarian presidency, the upcoming summit of the Three Seas Initiative will be held in June 2021 in Sofia. Originally, there were some arguments to postpone the summit to 2022 due to election in this country, but finally a decision was taken to organise it in 2021. As part of preparation for the summit, at the end of January, there was held an online working meeting on the level of administration of presidents and foreign affairs ministries from the states of the Three Seas Initiative. Earlier on, there had been a videoconference of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Vice-minister for foreign affairs of Bulgaria Ekaterina Zaharievej with the Coordinator of the Government of the Republic of Poland for the Three Seas Initiative Paweł Jabłoński.

Participation in the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund is of great importance to Bulgaria. The Bulgarian Development Bank contributed EUR 20 million to the Fund. The Bulgarian government is mainly interested in infrastructure projects, such as reconstruction of the Ruse-Varna railway line or investments on the route of the IV Pan-European Transport Corridor.

During the summit in Tallin, President Radev declared that the Bulgarian presidency will propose new areas of cooperation within the Three Seas Initiative, in particular science and education connectivity. He highlighted that infrastructure investments are not enough to develop economy if they are not related to cooperation with researchers, scientists and universities. New topics will be dealt with along with cooperation fields defined earlier on, such as the above mentioned transport and energy infrastructure and digital connectivity.

“Bulgaria will continue further on the ambitious path of releasing the capacity of the Initiative as a genuine tool for regional cooperation and accelerated development of our region through improving the energy, transport and digital connectivity”

President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev

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The Three Seas Local Government Congress under the Honorary Patronage of the President of Poland

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03 November 2025

The 6 th edition of the Three Seas Local Government Congress will be held May 27-28, 2026, under the Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Karol Nawrocki. This distinction recognises the growing importance of the event, which has become a key platform for cooperation among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, both in the economic and infrastructural dimensions.

Over five editions of the Congress (2020–2025), more than 5,000 participants from 24 countries have taken part, 104 discussion panels have been held, and 64 foreign delegations have visited Lublin. The scale and international character of the event confirm its increasing role in shaping dialogue across the Three Seas region.

We, the countries representing Central and Eastern Europe (…) through the Three Seas Initiative, Via Baltica, and Via Carpatia, share not only our voice and vision of building a civic community, but also tangible results showing that the Baltic States and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe are capable of implementing major infrastructure projects, emphasised President Karol Nawrocki during his visit to Vilnius last month.

These words perfectly capture the spirit of the Three Seas Congress, which brings together political, academic, and business communities around a shared goal, building a strong, integrated, and cooperative Central and Eastern Europe.

It is also worth noting that in April 2025, Poland hosted the 10th Three Seas Initiative Summit. During the event, participants emphasised the importance of infrastructure and economic cooperation in the region and the need to strengthen cohesion across Central and Eastern Europe. This year, the cooperation format has been expanded to include new members – Albania and Montenegro joined the Three Seas Initiative in the capacity of associated participating states, while Spain and Turkey became new strategic partners. It has already been announced that the 11th Summit will take place in Croatia in 2026.

We cordially invite you to take part in the Three Seas Local Government Congress! Registration will open in the end of January. More details will soon be available at www.congress.lubelskie.pl and on our social media channels.