Political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and Portugal
11 April 2014 News
Consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and Portugal at the level of Permanent Secretaries were held on11 April in Lisbon. From the Bulgarian side the consultations were led by Georgi Dimitrov, and from the Portuguese side – by Anna Martinyo.
The bilateral consultations included topics related to the development of the bilateral relations, as well as issues on the European and international agenda, such as the upcoming European Parliament elections, the Eastern Partnership, focusing on Ukraine, the Balkans and the Mediterranean region.
During the plenary talks between the delegations, the participants focused on the cooperation between the two ministries and the sharing of experiences and best practices in building the diplomatic services in the context of the Bulgarian presidency of the EU in the second half of 2018. They discussed also the state of the bilateral economic relations and the opportunities for their further development, as well as the bilateral relations in the field of culture and education.
The Portuguese side reaffirmed its full and unequivocal support for the accession of Bulgaria to the Schengen area, which was declared from the outset of the process without linking the accession to the Schengen area with the Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification.
The participants from the Bulgarian delegation expressed gratitude for the continued support of Portugal for Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen area and the granting of the software product "Schengen Information System for all".