The Cities Mission, the “green” transition and climate neutrality were the central points of the presentation of the mayor of Kozani, Lazaros Maloutas, at the final conference of the National Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria for the term 2019-2023, on Tuesday June 20, 2023.
Mr. Maloutas participated in the “Inspiration and lessons learned from the neighbors” section, where representatives of municipalities and agencies from Bulgaria’s neighboring countries took part. In his presentation, the mayor of Kozani presented to his Bulgarian colleagues the plan drawn up by the Municipality of Kozani to achieve climate neutrality and digital transformation, within the framework of the Cities Mission.
Mr. Maloutas referred to the common problems faced by the Local Governments in Bulgaria and Greece, while he referred to digitalization, “green” transition, as well as the PPP projects of 80 million that are on track to be implemented by the Municipality of Kozani.
On the side of the conference, Lazaros Maloutas met in person with the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, to whom he presented his proposals regarding the possibilities of cooperation in the common path for climate neutrality. The President of the Republic of Bulgaria referred to the cooperation between the two countries in energy matters, which has been upgraded in recent years.
In addition, the mayor of Kozani had a private discussion with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Nikolai Denkof, where he referred to issues of cooperation perspectives within the European Cities Mission, while Mr. Denkof pointed out the possibilities of developing cooperation between the Educational Institutions of Greece and Bulgaria.
Finally, the mayor met with the pledge of the mayor of Gabrovo, Tania Hristova, with whom they discussed the participation of Kozani and Gabrovo in the Mission “100 climate neutral and smart cities of Europe by 2030” and the challenges as well as the possibilities of cooperation on the way to the achievement of climate neutrality.
