“The United Kingdom is a strategic ally to Bulgaria and a partner within NATO, and these friendly relations must be preserved regardless of Britain's decision to leave the EU.” This is what President Rosen Plevneliev said, who held talks today with UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon.
At the meeting, protecting the borders of the European countries, migration, fighting terrorism, cyber-security and energy were highlighted as the key challenges the European countries are facing. “Bulgaria managed to reaffirm its position as “an island of stability” in Southeast Europe in extremely difficult times and we rely on Great Britain’s remaining committed to the problems in the region and to continue to support its allies,” Rosen Plevneliev said. The President further recalled that our country has invested considerable funds in improving the security of the European borders and continues to be among the few countries that obey rules and follow the procedures of registering the migrants entering Bulgaria. “We must be honest and draw a distinction between those migrants that are escaping from war and those who seek better economic prospects,” the Head of State added.
Mr. Fallon pointed out that Great Britain is strengthening its support for increasing the defense capabilities of the Baltic region countries. However, it understands the concerns over the changed security environment of the Black Sea countries as well. He further said that Great Britain is considering opportunities for providing support for protecting the region’s air space and also for holding a competitive public tender for modernizing the Bulgarian Armed Forces. Minister Fallon highly appreciated the efforts our country has put into improving the protection of the external EU borders.
The two shared the opinion that energy diversification is crucially important for improving the security of the energy supplies to the Southeast European countries. President Plevneliev voiced gratitude for the support our country received for the construction of the gas inter-connector with Greece and confirmed Bulgaria’s interest in strengthening its partnership with different companies in the process of exploration of possible natural gas deposits in the Bulgarian Black Sea aquatoria.
The positive trend in the bilateral trade between Bulgaria and Great Britain was also highlighted at the meeting. A growth worth almost 15 percent was registered in 2015 and the trade has reached 1.07 billion euros. “The EU is among Great Britain’s major economic partners, and both the UK and EU have made a lot of bilateral investments and created jobs. We will pool efforts to make sure that the process of Brexit by no means affects the bilateral trade,” Minister Fallon was adamant.