site.btaPM Borissov Makes Official Visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevo, October 27 (BTA special correspondent Hristo Vodenov) - After meeting with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on Friday, Denis Zvizdic, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said his country had asked Bulgaria to support its EU accession. He expressed a hope that Bosnia and Herzegovina will be granted EU candidate status during Sofia's EU Council Presidency in the first half of 2018.

Borissov is on a two-day official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina with a government delegation. This is the first ever visit there by a Bulgarian government leader.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister stressed that Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other countries have to work hard to join the EU.

The political elites of the countries of the Western Balkans should first solve the problems among the countries of the region if they are to join the EU, said Borissov. "We ought to show Europe that we look into the future, that we are intelligent and hard-working because the EU has problems too," he said.

The fact that those countries' leaders have been invited to an EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia on May 17, 2018, sends an important signal about the EU integration of the countries of the region. They stand a chance to become EU members because after Bulgaria's stint, the rotating EU Council Presidency will be assumed by Austria and then by Romania - countries which can also influence the European integration process. "It is good that the future of the Western Balkans is in our hands, but we should realize that the past should be relegated to history and we should look forward," said Borissov.

The two prime ministers noted the great importance of the economy and infrastructure for the region's development. Zvizdic said it was possible to launch air service between Sofia and Sarajevo. Answering a question, he said his country does not support any form of radical Islam. In the last two years not a single national of Bosnia and Herzegovina has left for the battlefields of Syria. Fifty-six people have returned from there and are under the state authorities' control, he said.

Meeting with Borissov, Zvizdic asked that the countries of the Western Balkans join the EU together, the Government Information Service said.

On Thursday, Borissov visited Camp Butmir for a meeting with Brigadier General Robert Huston, Commander NATO Headquarters, Sarajevo, and the Bulgarian EUFOR contingent.

Borissov told the Bulgarian personnel: "Gen. Huston tells me you are amazing. I was happy to hear him praise you because you are doing a great job."

Afterwards Borissov told reporters he also met with Gen. Huston's daughter, who speaks excellent Bulgarian thanks to her Bulgarian mother.

On Friday, within the framework of his visit Borissov met with the chairmen of the two chambers of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Safet Softic and Sefik Dzaferovic.


On Friday, Bulgarian Transport, IT and Communications Minister Ivaylo Moskovski and his counterpart Ismir Jusko signed an agreement amending an earlier one on international carriage of goods and passengers by road in order to promote cooperation between Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bulgaria's Economy Minister Emil Karanikolov and Bosnia and Herzegovina's Foreign trade and Economic Relations Minister Mirko Sarovic talked about invigorating the trade and economic ties and deepening the dialogue between the two countries' business communities, Karanikolov's ministry reported. It transpired during the meeting that bilateral trade in the first half of 2017 amounted to 56.35 million euro - an increase by 12.4 per cent compared to the like period of 2016 - and that there is an upward trend both in export and import. Bilateral trade amounted to 109.71 million euro in 2016.