Ekaterina Zaharieva: Our support for the European path of Serbia will continue
22 April 2019 News
‘Bulgaria will continue to support Serbia on its path to European integration, as it has always done. We value highly the good neighborly relations in the region and during the Bulgarian Presidency we have spared no effort to persuade our EU partners that a stable Balkan Peninsula means also a stable Europe.’
These is what Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva said during her plenary meeting with Jadranka Joksimović, Minister of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia.
The European integration of the countries in the Western Balkans is a priority for the Bulgarian foreign policy and was one of the four priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Last year, during the Bulgarian Presidency, under the leadership of Ekaterina Zaharieva, the Accession Conference with Serbia opened two new chapters of the negotiations for that country’s membership of the European Union.
The two ministers also had a tête-à-tête meeting today, which in their words had proceeded in a friendly and open atmosphere, as they discussed issues of importance for the bilateral relations and projects in the areas of transport and energy.
Ekaterina Zaharieva and Jadranka Joksimović stated their common view that the relations between the two countries in recent years are marked by a new, positive spirit, which should be developed further. The parties also pointed to the traditionally good contacts between the two peoples and the constantly growing tourist exchange between the countries.
They underscored the importance of joint projects in the areas of energy and transport while also pointing out the need for more active cooperation in education and science.
Minister Joksimović emphasized the benefits of the projects realized with Bulgarian support through the mechanism of development assistance and expressed her hope that such projects will continue in the future. Deputy Prime Minister Zaharieva assured her guest that Bulgaria devotes particular attention to such projects and that the country’s efforts in that respect will continue.
By financing development projects, Bulgaria will support in the course of this year 9 countries of the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership, including Serbia. The total value of all such projects in almost BGN 3.5 million; specifically for Serbia, Bulgaria will provide funding for projects in Bosilegrad and Dimitrovgrad, projects promoting cohesion between Serbian and European education, etc. Our country also provides BGN 35,000 for the continued implementation of a project for setting up a Center for the Study of Migration in Serbia, as a result of which for the first time in 2018 a national Serbian daily paper printed articles and news reports in the Bulgarian language.
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