The visit of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to Turkey at the end of January had some pragmatic results besides its political character. As it is known, friendly relations are something good for diplomacy, however as it is said: There are no permanent allies, no permanent friends, only permanent interests. Namely such interests brought an agreement between Borisov and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an: Bulgaria and Turkey will be the engines of the Nabucco pipeline project. This project was positioned among the priorities of the EU but its prospects have been dimmed by competition from Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline. This project is of great importance and it cannot be realised without our participation, Borisov stated after the meeting with his counterpart. His self confidence needs appraisal - by no means he speaks from the position of a party member of European People’s Party the mightiest party at the European Parliament. Something more, he explained that he will raise the question of exhilarating the realisation of the Nabucco project at the next summit of the EU in Brussels and added that he had already had talks with representatives of EBDR about the finance of the construction of the pipeline. Bulgarian legislators unanimously backed the agreement to take part in a EU-backed gas pipeline project that aims to reduce Western dependency on Russian energy supplies. Nabucco, the 3,300-kilometre pipeline via Turkey and the Balkans, is planned to circumvent Russian influence and begin delivering gas from Caspian fields to Europe in 2014. The $10 billion project gained additional interest after the gas crisis in early 2009, when Russia turned off the supply to Europe amid a row with Ukraine over transit fees. The gas crisis created huge problems in many countries that dependent, such as Bulgaria, on Russian gas for heating and industry. Whether the realization of Nabucco project may happen with or without us is very important only for the political image of the two states. More important is that the two countries have interests for that project to be realised the soonest possible so that dependency from Russian supplies is avoided. As evidence for that interest was the ratification of the agreement for the construction of Nabucco between Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey voted at the Bulgarian Parliament. According to the Energy Minister Traicho Traikov, the first stage of Nabucco is expected to be launched for exploitation until 2015 and by 2020 to start operating in full swing. For the Bulgarian support to the EU to support the Nabucco project, Turkey promised to give Bulgaria opportunities at this stage for supplies from Turkey through the existent gas pipeline for transit of Russian gas in case of gas crisis.