site.btaBulgarian President Meets with Visiting Presidents of Kosovo, Montenegro

Sofia, December 7 (BTA) - Bulgarian President Rumen Radev held one-to-one meetings here Thursday with the visiting President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, and of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic, said the President's Press Secretariat. During the meetings the Bulgarian Head of State reconfirmed the resolve of his country to support the Western Balkans in all fields in the process of European integration and democratic reforms.

The Presidents of Kosovo and Montenegro are here for a Conference on Stronger Regional Integration in the Balkans co-organized by the World Bank and Bulgaria.

All sides confirmed their commitment to partnership in the name of stability and development in the region.

Thaci and Vujanovic thanked Radev for Bulgaria's pro-active position for confirming the European perspectives of Kosovo and Montenegro and for putting the Western Balkans in the focus of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2018.

Radev and Thaci vowed to take measures to enhance bilateral commercial exchange and increase the number of students from Kosovo in the Bulgarian universities. Radev raised the issue of the official recognition of the Bulgarian minority in Kosovo.

Radev and Vujanovic concurred that each aspiring EU member should be assessed individually according to its own merit. They expressed the readiness of their countries to start the soonest possible projects for mutual connectedness in the field of energy, infrastructure and digitalization.

They also agreed that there is a strong potential in the two countries for strengthening economic cooperation and trade.