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President Rosen Plevneliev Called on the EU, Latin American and Caribbean States to Strengthen Their Strategic Partnership

“The world has never faced so many new and unconventional challenges. The quick changes taking place today go beyond national borders and even continents and require closer partnership between the individual states and regions. Cooperation is no longer a matter of choice, but of necessity.” This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said, who took part in the in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC) summit in Brussels. The Bulgarian Head of State made a statement within the framework of the second session of the forum on the topic: “Facing Together Global Challenges.”

“Europe and the CELAC region have incredible potential for development,” the President further said and called on the countries from the two regions to continue strengthening their strategic partnership marked by historical, cultural and economic ties and based on common values. The Head of State was adamant that Europe and the CELAC region are positive examples of cooperation between economies which are already closely connected and interdependent. “The EU is the main development partner of the region, its second largest trade partner and its biggest foreign investor. There are several Association and Free Trade Agreements between the EU and countries in the region already in place. We want to see progress in negotiations on new ones like EU-MERCOSUR,” President Plevneliev said.

“Cooperation works and there are many examples which show that together we can accomplish so much more,” the Head of State said and gave as an example the Balkans, which, torn apart by conflicts in the past, are currently joined in peace.

“Today, we work together, we build bridges of trust and cooperation. When our region was affected by some of the worst flooding in recent history, we proved that friendship has no borders,” the President said.

The Head of State recalled that with its strategic location in South East Europe, Bulgaria is a gateway to Europe and offers very favourable economic conditions for the implementation of investment projects – the lowest taxes in EU, lowest production costs, a highly qualified working force and free access to the EU market. “Bulgaria has traditionally been a center for high quality education. Thousands of young people from Latin America and the Caribbean graduated from Bulgarian universities in the past. We are interested in strengthening that cooperation,” Rosen Plevneliev further said.

In his statement at the forum, the Bulgarian President called on for finding a lasting solution to the issues related to climate change and recalled that the forthcoming summit in Paris is of extreme importance. The Head of State emphasized that Bulgaria is a country with traditions in environmental protection, where 35% of our territory is preserved under the “Natura 2000” European ecological standards which are the highest in the world.  “We started an ambitious national program for energy efficiency. We have a healthy energy mix of nuclear, water, solar and wind energy. Bulgaria was one of the first EU countries to achieve its 2020 goals on renewables,” President Plevneliev further said.

President Rosen Plevneliev voiced gratitude to Brazil, Argentina and Chile who are major partners of our country and contributors to the success of our Antarctic missions. The Head of State also expressed Bulgaria’s support for the objectives of the Antarctic Treaty and the strengthening of the Antarctic Treaty System. “Bulgaria just hosted the 38th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Sofia. We have a very active presence in the Antarctic with our Antarctic base where Bulgarian scientists alongside scientists from Spain, Portugal, Germany, Argentina, Chile and other countries work together on various projects, many of which are related to climate change,” the Bulgarian Head of State further said in his statement at EU-CELAC summit.

President Rosen Plevneliev’s participation in the EU-CELAC summit continues today, 11 June.