Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov are promising to create opportunities for Japanese businesses in the Balkans.

Abe is on a six-country European tour that makes him the first Japanese prime minister to visit the region. Before arriving in Bulgaria on Sunday, he was in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Serbia and Romania are his next stops.

Abe said Japan favors a united Europe, and he hailed Bulgaria's efforts to bring the countries that were part of the former Yugoslavia into the European Union.

Borisov said options would be found for Japanese companies to implement large infrastructure projects in Bulgaria and across the Western Balkans.

Bulgaria currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU's legislative arm. Borisov says the country will work for quick ratification of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement trade deal.