Foreign ministers Kristian Vigenin and Ahmet Davutoğlu met in Ankara
26 October 2013 News
The first meeting of the foreign ministers of Bulgaria and Turkey Kristian Vigenin and Ahmet Davutoğlu was held today in Ankara. During the conversation, they discussed a wide range of aspects of the bilateral relations - transport, energy, trade and economic relations, security cooperation, tourism and others.
"The migration pressure as a result of the humanitarian crisis in Syria and in the region is a topic that concerns both Bulgaria and Turkey. Unfortunately, the challenges on the territory of our two countries are already present and only through joint and coordinated action will manage to achieve significant results," Minister Kristian Vigenin said.
The Bulgarian Foreign Minister emphasized that our country understands the difficult situation faced by the Turkish government on the country's border with Syria and considers the serious measures taken to deal with it. "Despite the efforts of both countries, the immigration pressure on Bulgaria is gaining alarming proportions which required a decision by the Bulgarian government to build a temporary engineering facilities at our common border in the most critical area near the town of Elhovo, " Vigenin said.
Turkey expressed willingness to undertake joint initiatives for improving the monitoring of the common border and the situation with the migration pressure. One of the topics of discussion was the resumption of the work of the Central Joint Bulgarian-Turkish Border Commission within the existing agreement between Bulgaria and Turkey for the prevention and resolution of border incidents and maintenance of state border signs, which must identify concrete measures.
Among the topics of discussion was also the issue of Turkey - EU visa liberalization and visa facilitation measures for Turkish citizens, implemented by Bulgaria. Kristian Vigenin said to his counterpart that the signing of the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement would provide additional capabilities of Bulgaria as a member of the EU to deal with the refugee flow. "Bulgaria has placed on the highest political level in front of the European institutions the subject of the acceleration of the implementation of the roadmap for visa liberalization and the signing of the Readmission Agreement," the Bulgarian Foreign Minister said.
"We see Bulgaria not only as a neighbor, but also as a link to the transport, energy sector and economic relations with Europe. Turkey is also a link to the Middle East and the Mediterranean, “ said the Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoğlu.
The two ministers reached an agreement by the end of the year to convene the Joint Commission for solving outstanding issues, among which is the compensation of the Thracian refugees. Minister Kristian Vigenin invited his counterpart Ahmet Davutoğlu to visit Bulgaria in order to resume the active dialogue.
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