NEWS

Bulgaria and Turkey will continue working for the development of good-neighborly relations and for securing more cohesion in the region of Southeast Europe

Bulgaria and Turkey will continue working for the development of good-neighborly relations and for securing more cohesion between the Southeast European countries. This was the position shared by President Rosen Plevneliev and Ahmet Davutoglu, foreign minister of the Republic of Turkey, who held a meeting at 2 Dondukov street. The correct approach we should adopt is to jointly seek solutions to the issues common for our countries, Rosen Plevneliev emphasized. He highly appreciated the responsible attitude displayed by the governments of Bulgaria and Turkey towards solving the problems the transport companies from the two countries are facing.

Turkey has the ambition to establish open and pragmatic relations with its neighbors and will encourage more of its companies to invest in Bulgaria, Ahmet Davutoglu said at the meeting. In his opinion, the two countries have the real potential to considerably increase not only the bilateral trade worth three billion euros per year, but also the mutual investments. “Today the investments Turkey makes in Bulgaria are worth two billion euros, while the geographic proximity and the friendly relations between the two people are conditions for achieving much higher levels,” Ahmet Davutoglu said.

It was further pointed out at the meeting that connecting the transport and energy infrastructure in Southeast Europe is a priority not only for Bulgaria, but also for Turkey. Bulgaria will soon finish the construction of the Maritsa highway and our country has the ambition also to build a high-speed railway which will connect Bulgaria with the modern railway system that is currently constructed in Turkey, the Head of State said. Rosen Plevneliev and Ahmet Davutoglu also highlighted the importance of the projects for transferring energy resources from the Caspian region and Middle Asia to Europe, which contribute to the energy diversification and security.

The two shared the opinion that the acts of xenophobia and religious intolerance are unacceptable and the institutions should strongly react against them.