Bulgarian participation in meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers for European Affairs of the South-East European Cooperation Process
05 June 2023 News
On 5 June 2023, in Budva, within the framework of the Montenegrin Presidency of the South-East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP), meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers of European Affairs of the participating countries were held. The Bulgarian delegation was led by Ms Slavena Gergova, Director General for European Affairs.
At the meeting of the Foreign Ministers, hosted by Dritan Abazović, Prime Minister of Montenegro and Minister of Foreign Affairs, cooperation in South-Eastern Europe, possibilities for its development, European integration of the region, as well as the consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine were discussed.
In her speech, Ms. Gergova highlighted the role of regional cooperation in achieving stability, security and prosperity in SEE and underlined the key role of the Process as a leading political format for building trust among participating countries. She highlighted our country's support for the European future of all countries in the region, based on individual progress in meeting the conditions and criteria for membership. She referred to the need to respect human rights, including the negative effects of hate speech and hate crimes. Ms Gergova highlighted the need to increase connectivity in the region in all its dimensions — energy, transport and digital — as a factor for achieving economic growth and sustainable development.
The main topic of the meeting of Ministers for European Affairs, hosted by Ms Ana Novaković Đurović, Minister for European Affairs of Montenegro, was the European integration of the region.
Strong political messages were sent to accelerate the EU accession processes and concrete measures were proposed to overcome the negative consequences of the war in Ukraine. Ms Gergova stressed the need to strengthen the rule of law and to apply the principles of good neighbourliness, regional cooperation and reconciliation. She added that the war in Ukraine has proved the importance of the partners' inclusion in the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy as a key factor for the overall dynamics of their relations with the Union.
Ms Gergova wished success to Skopje's forthcoming chairmanship of the SEECP (1 July 2023 — 30 June 2024) and confirmed Bulgaria's readiness to take over the rotating chairmanship of the process in the period 2025—2026, when its 30th anniversary will be celebrated.
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