site.btaBulgarian Government Approves Draft Treaty of Goodneighbourliness with Macedonia

Sofia, July 26 (BTA) - At its weekly meeting Wednesday, the Bulgarian government approved a draft Treaty of Friendship, Goodneighbourliness and Cooperation with Macedonia, said the government press office. The signing of the Treaty is "an expression of Bulgaria's wish to build relations of goodneighbourliness with Macedonia, based on European values", Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said during the government meeting.

The draft Treaty was also approved Wednesday by the Macedonian government and is now expected to be signed by the two countries on August 2.

The Bulgarian government expects that the signing of the treaty will ensure cooperation on bilateral and multilateral level; expansion of transport connections and communication; participation and access to financing for regional infrastructure and cross-border projects; easier contacts between the people of the two countries.

Speaking during the government meeting, Prime Minister Borissov said that in the course of several years several Bulgarian governments from the entire political spectrum were involved in the negotiations and stood up for the Bulgarian national interests.

Borissov also said that the recent Sofia visit by Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his position on the history that the two countries share, was the first step towards bringing a new spirit in bilateral relations. "The EU appreciated the Treaty as the first step and a new start towards a European future for Macedonia," said also the Prime Minister.

He hopes that the signing of the treaty will open a new chapter in relations between the two countries and will establish relations of cordial friendship.

Commenting the approval of the Treaty in Tirana where she is visiting as part of a Balkan tour, Bulgarian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva said: "I hope the Treaty will be a new start for bilateral relations but let's be realists: it is going to be a long process."

"This Treaty offers a real opportunity for improving relations and an opportunity to allow history to bring us together - not divide us - by looking together into our common future," Zaharieva said as quoted by her Ministry. She added that other countries in the EU have done this.

It is in Bulgaria's best interest to see all its neighbours becoming EU members and have developed democracy - not to be isolated and least of all have anti-Bulgarian attitudes.

The Treaty provides for a mechanism of implementation monitoring by the Foreign Ministries on an annual basis.

"It also provides opportunities for stronger economic cooperation," Zaharieva added.

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The Bulgarian government also approved Wednesday a memorandum of understanding between the Transport Ministries of Bulgaria and Macedonia on the development of a rail link between Sofia and Skopje, said the government press office. Bulgaria undertakes to complete by 2027 the construction of the railway from Sofia to Pernik, Radomir and the Macedonian border, and Macedonia to build a rail link from Kriva Palanka to Deve Bair and the Bulgarian border by the end of 2025.

The government also approved a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the natural gas sector, which says that in keeping with their national energy policies and the common energy policy of the EU, Bulgaria and Macedonia will cooperate to explore the opportunities for building a new direct link between their gas systems. For the purposes of this memorandum, the two countries will establish a mixed working group on gas which will have six months from the entry into force of the memorandum to prepare a feasibility study for the construction of a gas interconnector.