The EU and Turkey are part of the solution of the refugee crisis, President Rosen Plevneliev and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu commented during their bilateral meeting, which was held within the framework of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. Interior Minister Rumyana Buchvarova and Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov took part in the meeting.
Turkey plays an important role in seeking solutions of the crisis, since almost two million refugees are on its territory. The Turkish prime minister assured Rosen Plevneliev that the cooperation with the Bulgarian authorities on this issue will be strengthened. “The Bulgarian side highly appreciates the efforts made by the Turkish authorities not to allow illegal immigrants on the territory of our country. We are grateful to our Turkish counterparts, who have shown in the past months that together we can act more effectively,” the Head of State highlighted.
President Plevneliev said that the two countries are jointly working out special mechanisms for control and protection of the Bulgarian-Turkish border. An example is the agreement reached to establish a center for police and customs office cooperation between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. In the Head of State’s opinion, a lasting and sustainable solution of the refugees problem may be found only if the crisis in Syria is solved. “When compromises are made with the human rights and freedoms, everything is discredited. In the next days the international community will negotiate, solutions will be sought. The degree of readiness and the willingness of the world political elite to find a solution of this conflict is great. It will not happen overnight,” the Head of State said.
The Turkish Prime Minister informed the President that the construction of a high-speed train from Turkey to the Bulgarian border is progressing rapidly.
President Rosen Plevneliev, for his part, said that Bulgaria is actively working to ensure the modernization of its railway infrastructure, and the railway section from Plovdiv to Svilengrad has been completed. The Maritza highway will soon be fully completed. President Rosen Plevneliev and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu firmly voiced the positions of the two countries that the gas inter-connector between Bulgaria and Turkey is on the agenda and is an important project on the diversification of the natural gas supplies for our country from the Caspian region. The two commented also the increase of the bilateral trade, which has doubled after the official visit of the Bulgarian president in Turkey at the end of 2012.
Later today President Rosen Plevneliev will hold talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon within the framework of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly. The issue of electing a UN secretary general will be among the topics discussed. The President told journalists that he welcomes the resolution recently adopted by the UN, according to which after the procedure for electing a new UN secretary general is launched, the countries will be able to nominate their candidates. The process is expected to start at the end of January 2016. In the Head of State’s opinion, more transparency will be ensured that way and the strong candidates will have more chances, and the possibilities for behind-the-scene agreements between the individual countries will be reduced.
“We will act in compliance with the procedure. We will be among the first ones to nominate a strong candidate. I am sure that the next UN secretary general will be from East Europe, it is high time for this to happen. And I am also sure that it should be a woman. So far we have had eight secretaries general and all of them are men,” President Rosen Plevneliev told representatives of the Bulgarian media in New York.