President Rosen Plevneliev met today at 2 Dondoukov Boulevard with the Prime Minister of Federal Province of Lower Austria, Dr. Erwin Pröll, who is visiting Bulgaria.
At the meeting, President Plevneliev and Prime Minister Pröll emphasized the excellent level of Bulgarian-Austrian relations and discussed prospects for further developing and deepening these relations. President Plevneliev said that Bulgaria highly appreciates the experience of the Province of Lower Austria in pursuing a consistent policy of economic growth and employment. The President said that the achievement of economic prosperity by Lower Austria is an example of the capabilities of its political leadership to unite around a common goal and to make, within 20 years, an agricultural province into a leading industrial force. He said that within the "Bulgaria 2020" national programme, Bulgarian institutions would do what is necessary to carry out similar economic transformation in Bulgaria.
The President and Prime Minister Pröll agreed that the EU’s Cohesion Policy is a guarantee of balanced and sustainable development in Europe and the determination of its parameters in the planning of the financial framework for 2014-2020 was crucial.
Rosen Plevneliev and Erwin Pröll said that the Danube Strategy held great potential for the economic development and modernization of the Danube region. The President said that Bulgaria would participate fully in the implementation of the objectives of the strategy, particularly those regarding the modernization of ports, making full use of waterways and associated Danube transport infrastructure, improvement of administrative capacity and the promotion of tourism.
They praised the co-operation between Bulgaria and Lower Austria in the field of energy. They agreed that the Gorna Arda project, which NEC and Austria’s EVN will be involved in implementing, is profitable for both parties, and in the coming years will lead to investment of about 500 million euro in the Bulgarian economy, as well as ensure the creation of many new jobs in south-eastern Bulgaria. President Plevneliev also expressed Bulgaria’s interest in Austria’s policy of the development of low-carbon energy and in possibilities for the joint development of projects for carbon capture and storage.
Prime Minister Pröll told President Plevneliev that the Federal Province of Lower Austria supported Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area. "This support is partly motivated by selfish reasons, because one of the main routes for human trafficking in Central and Western Europe is through the territory of Bulgaria. Bulgaria's membership in the Schengen agreement will allow a much closer and more intensive cooperation in dealing with such problems,” Prime Minister Pröll said.
After the meeting, President Rosen Plevneliev and Prime Minister Dr. Erwin Pröll made statements to the media.
In response to a question, President Plevneliev said that Bulgaria carefully followed and fully supported the policy of the Government of the Hellenic Republic to meet its financial commitments to the EU.
Asked about the priorities of the Province of Lower Austria in the implementation of investment projects in the Bulgarian economy, Prime Minister Pröll emphasized that these were the areas of energy, infrastructure and regional policy. Mr Pröll added that implementing these was a guarantee of the economic success of 80 companies in the province of Lower Austria.