Istanbul's mayor Topbas meets Sofia's mayor

SOFIA (A.A) – March 5, 2012 - Turkey's Istanbul city's metropolitan mayor Kadir Topbas met Bulgarian Sofia city's mayor Yordanka Fandakova in Sofia on Monday. Topbas said that Sofia and Istanbul were two close neighbor cities, and relations between the two cities should be developed more. Noting that they fulfilled very important projects in Istanbul, Topbas said that they built 251 underpass and crossroads in eight years in Istanbul, adding that they also prepared two projects for Bulgaria. We are open to share knowledge and experience, said Topbas, adding that they were ready to extend every type of support to Sofia Municipality. Topbas said that they invested 10 billion euro only for transportation in Istanbul in eight years, and they made it without receiving any help. Our investment budget for 2012 is 3.5 billion euro, he said, adding that they also spent 20 million euro for archeological excavations. We restored mosques as well as churches remaining from Byzantium, said Topbas, adding that they spent two million euro for restoration of a Bulgarian church. Sofia's mayor said that they were expecting assistance in reconstruction of parks, adding that they had serious problems in transportation. Noting that Istanbul recorded a great transformation in transportation area, Fandakova said that Sofia was also willing to be European Capital of Culture like Istanbul did two years ago.