site.btaDeputy PM Zaharieva Confers with Serbian Justice Minister Kuburovic

Belgrade/Sofia, July 25 (BTA) - On the second day of her visit to Serbia, Deputy Prime Minister for judicial reform and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva conferred in Belgrade on Tuesday with Serbian Justice Minister Nela Kuburovic, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

Kuburovic has thanked Bulgaria for the assistance it offers, adding that her country finds chapters 23 and 24 of the EU accession negotiations most difficult.

Chapter 23 concerns judiciary and fundamental rights, while chapter 24 is about justice, freedom and security.

Zaharieva has advised her colleague that the most important thing is to seek coordination with institutions, because the two negotiating chapters in Serbia require the assistance of close to 50 institutions. The Bulgarian Deputy PM also told Kuburovic about the Judicial Reform Council she had established at the start of last year, where representatives of all institutions and magistrates' professional organizations joined the efforts for drafting the two legislative packages amending the Judicial System Act and the Criminal Procedure Code.

Ekaterina Zaharieva has invited Nela Kuburovic to attend the informal meeting of EU justice and interior ministers, held on October 25 in Sofia in the EU-Western Balkans format, the Foreign Ministry reported.

Zaharieva and First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic agreed to work together to promote business between their countries. The first step will be a business forum in Nis or another town in Southern Serbia, the Foreign Ministry said.

Zaharieva said: "Hopefully a public procurement procedure will be launched this year or early next year for the Sofia-Kalotina motorway so that its construction can start in the first half of 2018."

For his part, Dacic said: "Roads, infrastructure and a gas interconnector with Bulgaria are our priorities. I am glad Bulgarians are the second largest group of tourists visiting Serbia."

The two discussed aspects of bilateral relations and matters on the international agenda. The two foreign ministries are working on a memorandum of European integration.

Zaharieva also said: "Prime Minister Boyko Borissov is a real supporter of Serbia." She invited Dacic and President Aleksandar Vucic to a joint meeting of the governments of Bulgaria and Romania in October and to the informal meeting of the EU's foreign ministers (Gymnich) during Bulgaria's Presidency of the EU Council.

Zaharieva and Dacic discussed problems of the Bulgarian national minority in Serbia and agreed that the issues of Bulgarian-language textbooks and TV programmes should be solved. The options are to fund such broadcasts in Serbia or to include Bulgarian television outlets in the packages of local cable operators. The two also discussed ways to boost the economic development of what is known in Bulgaria as the "Western Outlands" so as to stop the depopulation of that area in Southeastern Serbia. Bulgaria lost it under the 1919 Treaty of Neuilly after its defeat in World War I.

Bulgaria offered Serbia help during its negotiations with the EU, and will continue to insist on a clear European perspective for the countries of the Western Balkans during its stint at the EU Presidency.

Meeting with Zaharieva, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic thanked Bulgaria for its efforts to keep the EU open to enlargement towards the Western Balkans.

Brnabic said that in the last three years her country concentrated on economic and financial reforms, which resulted in stability. Now the cabinet has focused on the rule of law, more specifically on introducing summary procedure and guaranteeing that sentences are executed. She expressed a hope that Belgrade would step up the pace of closing negotiating chapters with Brussels.

Zaharieva praised the reforms, stressing that foreign investments are directly dependent on them. Bulgaria's chief diplomat said: "At EU forums we always talk about the European perspective for the Western Balkans." She conveyed Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's invitation to Brnabic to visit Bulgaria.