Bulgaria is ready to deepen its cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the sphere of defense and security in light of the Euro-Atlantic prospects of Sarajevo. This is what President Rumen Radev said at the meeting with the Denis Zvizdic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2 Dondukov street. Our country has gone down an important path to achieve the high NATO standards and we can share our experience, the Head of State said and emphasized that Bulgaria is developing a catalogue of the opportunities for education, qualification and training in our country in the spheres of security and defense, which Bosnia and Herzegovina can take advantage of.
The Bulgarian President called on Bosnia and Herzegovina to continue implementing reforms particularly in the sphere of the rule of law, the administrative reform, and the social and economic sphere. “It is important that we continue our cooperation in the sphere of justice and home affairs because it is only through joint efforts that we can counteract trans-border crime, religious radicalization and terrorism,” Rumen Radev said.
President Radev welcomed Bosnia and Herzegovina’s efforts to achieve progress in the process of European integration and to acquire the status of a candidate country for full-fledged EU membership. “I hope that by the end of Bulgaria’s EU Council Presidency you will receive the desired answer. Bulgaria has made great efforts to bring back into Europe’s focus the Western Balkans’ European prospects, which is one of the priorities of the Bulgarian EU Presidency,” the Head of State said.
Rumen Radev and Denis Zvizdic were unanimous that there are still a lot of untapped opportunities in the economic cooperation between the two countries. Two-way trade which stands at about 150 million euros annually is far below the potential, the Head of State said. The Republic of Bulgaria is the first country which recognized Bosnia and Herzegovina’s independence and sovereignty in 1992 and currently we continue to support your efforts and the development of our bilateral relations, Rumen Radev said.
I think that all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina highly appreciate the fact that Bulgaria was the first country to recognize our independence and 26 years later your country once again plays an important role for our development, given the priority of Bulgaria’s EU Council Presidency concerning the European integration of the Western Balkans, Zvizdic said. In his words, the European prospects are important with respect to the region’s stability and peace. “Without them the processes in the Western Balkans would be hard to predict,” the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina said. Zvizdic voiced hope that by the beginning of next year his country will receive EU membership candidate status.