The start of the negotiations on Serbia’s EU accession offers new prospects for thoroughly strengthening the partnership between Bulgaria and Serbia. Bulgaria and Serbia should build relationships based on mutual understanding and a vision for development which represents their common future. This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said at the meeting he held with Ivan Mrkic, Foreign Minister of Serbia, who is on an official visit in Bulgaria.
The Head of State emphasized once again that in the course of the negotiations our country will give Serbia its full support in terms of expertise. Rosen Plevneliev said that the start of the negotiations on Serbia’s EU accession is success not only for Serbia, but also for all Western Balkan countries.
The meeting also highlighted the more intense activity of the Bulgarian-Serbian Chamber of Commerce, set up in September 2013, and the idea for conducting a joint business forum with the participation of the Heads of State in the border region in which the Bulgarian national minority in Serbia is concentrated. According to Rosen Plevneliev, encouraging the contacts between the business circles in the two countries is an opportunity to increase the bilateral trade, which should not be missed.
“I would like to assure you that Serbia will do its best to improve the life of the Bulgarian national minority,” Minister Mrkic emphasized at the meeting. The Head of State highly appreciated the commitment of President Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, and of Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic to solve the problems of the Bulgarian national minority in Serbia.
According to Rosen Plevneliev, the joint statement made by the foreign ministers of the two countries is a good basis on which Bulgaria and Serbia can continue developing friendly and good-neighborly relations, based on shared European values and principles. Minister Mrkic assured the Bulgarian Head of State that Serbia will work for speeding up the process on signing a bilateral Agreement on friendship, cooperation and good-neighborly relations.
January 2014 will mark 135 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Serbia and this anniversary will be commemorated in the two countries. “2014 should be a year full of content in our relations. This can happen if common projects, “truly felt” by the people of the two countries, are implemented,” Rosen Plevneliev said.
Bulgaria’s and Serbia’s commitment to carry out the projects on connecting the regional transport and energy infrastructure in South-Eastern Europe was confirmed at the meeting.
The Bulgarian Head of State accepted President Tomislav Nikolic’s invitation to visit Serbia, which was handed over by Ivan Mrkic.