U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle Remarks at AES-ME1

April 29, 2008

Mr. Minister, thank you very much for your kind words.  Mrs. Neykova, Mr. Mayor, it’s a pleasure to be back in the municipality of Galabovo in the district of Stara Zagora.

Dear friends, very often Ambassadors, Ministers, and District Governors take part in ground breaking ceremonies.  But it’s not so often when those ground breaking events yield such impressive results in just a couple of years.  I think that the success we see now at AES-ME1 has been made possible because of the very good partnership between a big American company – AES – and the Bulgarian government.

I think the Bulgarian government made this project a top priority for three reasons:

First, this is the largest foreign investment in Bulgaria to date.  It’s worth more than 1.3 billion euro, which is almost 2 billion dollars.  This contributes significantly to the local economy, creates a lot of well-paid jobs, and brings Bulgaria back into the position of being an energy exporter for its neighbors.

The second reason is related to the first one: it is a great advertisement for other foreign investors.  When traveling around the United States last year, I don’t know how many times I referred to this success and spoke about AES–ME1 as a good example of how an American company can be successful thanks to the support of the Bulgarian government.  And we see now that other American energy companies are willing to come to Bulgaria to look for investment opportunities and to follow the AES example and success.

The third reason is environmental.  As the Minister said, AES–ME1 will meet the highest EU standards, it will be a very clean plant, and will contribute considerably to the improvement of air quality and the environment in this region.  I am very proud that all this is happening thanks to the wonderful cooperation between AES and Bulgaria.

I would like to thank you very much for the invitation to celebrate this moment with you today.

Thank you.