Bulgaria and Serbia are looking to their common future in the EU and will try to expand the political dialogue and the implementation of joint projects which would increase the bilateral trade and encourage the economic cooperation, President Rosen Plevneliev said at a news conference after holding a meeting at 2 Dondukov street with his Serbian counterpart Tomislav Nikolic. The Serbian Head of State is on a two-day official visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of President Plevneliev.
Bulgaria and Serbia are due to introduce the practice of holding joint meetings of the two countries’ governments, as well as sign an Agreement for Friendship, Cooperation and Good-neighborly relations which will give an impetus to the bilateral partnership, the Bulgarian Head of State told the representatives of the media.
Among the joint projects discussed at the two presidents’ meeting were accelerating the work on implementing the Transport corridor No. 10 project by building a highway and reconstruction of the Sofia-Kalotina-Nis railway as well as the construction of new border checkpoints. Bulgaria will be connected with Serbia by an interconnector gas link, Rosen Plevneliev further confirmed and added that the opportunity for establishing a direct flight between Sofia and Belgrade was discussed at the meeting.
Bulgaria and Serbia will seek to increase their trade by ensuring that the business circles are more informed about the opportunities for making investments in Bulgaria and Serbia, by establishing a joint Bulgarian-Serbian chamber of commerce. “Although we welcome this initiative, we will also seek to achieve results and adopt a pragmatic approach by encouraging Bulgarian companies to make investments in Serbia,” President Rosen Plevneliev said.
The Head of State also emphasized the good interaction between the local authorities in the two countries in the sphere of cross-border cooperation. “It is necessary to accelerate the implementation of the existing program for cross-border cooperation worth 36 million euros for the 2007-2013 period, as well as together plan our common priorities for the 2014-2020 period,” the President said.
“To us, Bulgaria’s support for Serbia’s EU membership is very valuable,” President Tomislav Nikolic said. President Plevneliv, for his part, voiced his conviction that the Stabilization and Association Agreement between Serbia and the EU will contribute to conducting the necessary reforms within the negotiation period. “We are ready to share our experience and support Serbia in the EU accession process,” the Bulgarian Head of State further added. Bulgaria will also work for ensuring that a date for starting negotiations for Serbia’s EU accession is fixed as soon as possible.
The topics of mother tongue education of the Bulgarian community in Serbia, restoring the Bulgarian soldier monuments and the economic recovery of the regions with compact Bulgarian population were also debated during the two presidents’ meeting. During the joint news conference President Nikoloc emphasized that Serbia is ready to put greater efforts into improving the economic situation in the municipalities inhabited by representatives of the Bulgarian national minority. The Serbian Head of State also voiced the readiness of his country to solve the issue related to the shortage of Bulgarian language textbooks for the representatives of the Bulgarian community as well as the renovation of Bulgarian soldiers monuments on Serbia’s territory. “In 2014 we would like to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I in a different way,” President Nikolic said.
On the second day of his official visit to Bulgaria, the Serbian Head of State will hold a meeting with National Assembly Chair Mikhail Mikov and Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski. President Nikolic will visit the Sofia metropolitan cathedral St. Nedelya and the National Historical Museum.