In interviews with foreign media ahead of the energy summit in Sofia on April 24 and 25, President Georgi Purvanov spoke of his vision of Bulgaria as a bridge between central Asian gas suppliers and consumers in Europe. But response to the summit made it seem that there was a way to go before anyone of crucial importance wanted to use this bridge.

When he announced plans for the "Natural gas for Europe: security and partnership" summit several months ago, Purvanov listed four main goals that he believed the summit would help in moving closer to achieving. These goals included a new European energy policy, new international arrangements and durable guarantees for the energy security of Bulgaria, the region and Europe as a whole, implementation of strategic resource transmission projects, and mitigation of gas and oil crisis situations.

The gas crisis in January caused by the Russia-Ukraine dispute seemed to promise a new urgency and relevance for the April summit in Bulgaria, but it was not to be.

A number of factors deflated prospects for the Sofia summit. One was that it did not become a forum of choice for the most influential leaders to debate policy. The United States, in spite of urgings at every opportunity including by Bulgarian leaders to US president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, sent only an ambassador-level representative.

However, it was with regard to Russia and the rest of Europe that the question of the level of representation became fraught with complications.

Moscow sought an assurance ahead of the conference that the final document in Sofia would endorse the 10 billion euro South Stream gas pipeline project in which Russia’s Gazprom has a leading role would be endorsed as a priority project for the European Union. This idea fell flat for a number of reasons, including continuing US and EU backing for the Nabucco project which, while hardly having made great progress towards implementation, would provide energy supply diversity in a way directly opposite to South Stream’s reinforcement of dependence on Russia.

When it became clear that there would be no gain for Russia in high-level attendance at the Sofia summit, the spokesperson for prime minister Vladimir Putin confirmed in Moscow on April 21 that Putin would not be coming. A Kommersant report said that the Sofia event was an "experts’ conference" which did not require the presence of the prime minister, who in any case was due to receive his Bulgarian counterpart Sergei Stanishev in Moscow on April 27 where they could discuss the outcome of the summit.

Analyst Valery Nestorov was quoted in the same report as saying that the diminished level of participation in the conference would not have suited Putin’s image.

It was announced that Russia would be represented by energy minister Sergei Shmatko, along with a denial that Putin’s absence had anything to do with tensions around South Stream and, for that matter, denials that it ever had been confirmed that Putin intended attending.

By April 22, however, it was clear that the conference would not be an entirely junior affair. Media reports said that European Commission President Jose Barroso would attend. Government sources indicated that Central and Eastern European and Asian leaders including the presidents or prime ministers of Albania, Romania, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Greece and Georgia would attend, with more confirmations pending, as well as the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin told an April 22 briefing that Bulgaria was not yet ready to sign a South Stream agreement. While it was of importance, there were issues pending that had to be resolved. Kalfin’s words were in counterpoint to earlier statements by Gazprom vice president Alexander Medvedev who expressed optimism that South Stream agreements would be signed with Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece this year.