site.btaBulgarian Foreign Minister Participates in Meeting with Counterparts of Albania, Greece and Macedonia

Thessaloniki, October 5 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Minister for Justice Reform and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva took part in a working meeting with the foreign ministers of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Macedonia. The challenges before the security in the region, migration issues, the Schengen Area and the defence policy featured on the agenda of the discussions, the press centre of the Foreign Ministry said.

Emerging after the meeting Zaharieva said that the sides agreed to have such meetings once or twice a year.

She had one-to-one meetings with the three foreign ministers.

Meeting Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati, Zaharieva raised for a consecutive time the issue of the official recognition of the Bulgarian minority in the country. Zaharieva recalled that the two countries prepared an accord for recognition of the Bulgarian minority in Albania already in 1932 but it was not signed because of the beginning of WWII.

On September 28, 2017 Prime Minister Boyko Borissov had a telephone conversation with his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama Bulgaria and told him Bulgarian insists that Tirana should guarantee the rights of the Bulgarian national minority in line with the international legal standards. The conversation was prompted by a bill aimed to protect the minorities' rights drafted by the Albanian government. Borissov said he expected the legislation to include provisions protecting the rights of the Bulgarian minority.

Rama assured the Bulgarian Prime Minister then that the bill was still under preparation, and pledged that his country would not infringe on the interests of the Bulgarian minority. He stressed that communication with Bulgaria would continue so that the Bulgarians' interests in Albania would be protected.

Minister Zaharieva and Greek Foreign Minister Nikolaos Kotzias Minister discussed again the idea that the top diplomats of Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Croatia - the four EU member states in the region - visit the other six countries of the Western Balkans in order to give political support to their European integration. An agreement to this end was reached by the four ministers during a meeting within the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

The possibilities for closer cooperation between Sofia and Skopje, including strengthening of investments and connectivity were discussed during a meeting of Zaharieva with Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov. The organizing of a business forum in Strumica at which the Bulgarian companies will be familiarized with the possibilities for business in Macedonia is at an advanced stage. Zaharieva and Dimitrov discussed the organizing of a meeting of the two countries' government.

Speaking before journalists in Thessaloniki, Zaharieva voiced hope that Bulgaria will be soon admitted to the Schengen Area. She hailed the passive access to the Schengen Information System granted to Bulgaria by the European Parliament.