site.btaMeetings of Deputy Foreign Minister Georgiev in Canada

Toronto/Sofia, December 5 (BTA) - Deputy Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev is on a working visit to Canada until December 6, his ministry said in a press release.

Meeting with the leadership of the Canada Bulgaria Business Network (CBBN) in Toronto on Sunday, Georgiev said that he will work actively towards the promotion of Bulgarian goods and services in Canada. A considerable unused potential exists in the economic sphere that should be utilized, he told the business representatives. Georgiev committed to work for the organization of an annual exhibition of Bulgarian products and services in Canada following the example of the Why Canada? Bulgarian-Canadian business forum, which will be held in November in Sofia.

"The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement [CETA] creates a new and more favourable political, legal and economic framework for deepening the cooperation between Brussels and Ottawa, but it also opens many new opportunities on the bilateral plain of which we should take maximum advantage," Georgiev said. According to him, in addition to CETA the promotion of Bulgarian produce in Canada requires the creation of working platforms for its popularization.

On Monday, Georgiev met with the consuls general of the EU Member States in Toronto to acquaint them with the priorities of the forthcoming Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council. "Our focus will be on security and migration, growth and new jobs, the European prospects of the Western Balkans, the Eastern Partnership, and the Black Sea Region. We will pay special attention to the cohesion policy, which over the years has proven its true European worth," the Deputy Foreign Minister said at the meeting.

He and the consuls general agreed that the challenges facing the European project require an even deeper cooperation and interaction between the Member States.