Bulgaria and Cyprus will work closely on important EU issues
12 December 2011 News
“The partnership between Bulgaria and Cyprus has traditionally been very good, relations between our peoples are friendly and the business contacts between the two countries are increasingly intense.” This was said by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov at a joint news conference with the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Cyprus, Dr Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis.
The two ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the guiding principles for the exchange of personnel between the two foreign ministries, as a basis for sharing best practices in their co-operation in the EU.
Minister Mladenov said that Bulgaria has no concerns about the future success of the Cyprus EU Presidency. He said that for Bulgaria, it is important in several key areas, including the forthcoming substantive discussions on the EU multi-annual financial framework; co-operation on policy in the region of the Eastern Mediterranean and developments around the “Arab Spring”.
“When a country from the region is president of the EU, issues in the Mediterranean will become closer to all of Europe,” Minister Mladenov said.
Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister outlined the good opportunities for co-operation between the two countries in the energy sector, and expressed hope that Cyprus would develop the natural gas fields in the Mediterranean and would use them in the interest of all Europe.
Minister Kozakou-Marcoullis thanked Bulgaria for the support it has expressed for the forthcoming Cyprus EU Presidency. She said that the two countries shared the same views on the future financial framework of the EU, on an enlargement policy aimed at Western Balkans and on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa.
Further, the two ministers shared the view that the content of the declaration in the eurozone on creating a new fiscal pact is a positive development and will help maintain the stability of the euro and the stimulation of economic growth.