site.btaPM Borissov: "Bulgarian-Croatian History Is Deeply Rooted in Bulgaria, Continues to Make Successful Progress"

PM Borissov: "Bulgarian-Croatian History Is Deeply Rooted in Bulgaria, Continues to Make Successful Progress"

Dubrovnik, June 30 (BTA) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Frankovic unveiled a memorial plaque to Tsar Ivan Asen II's Dubrovnik Charter in the Croatian city on Thursday, the Government Information Service said.

The plaque symbolizes the historic ties between Bulgaria and Croatia and pays tribute to the ancestors.

Borissov, together with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and with the Minister for the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council in 2018 Liliyana Pavlova, is in Dubrovnik for Friday's Summit of the South-East European Cooperation Process.

Addressing the ceremony, Borissov pointed out that friendship between the two countries is deeply rooted in history, and their partnership now continues to make successful progress in the Balkans and in the European Union. He described the Dubrovnik Charter as an important source about the history of commercial links.

"I am convinced that in the EU and NATO, we all together in the Balkans will now stop talking about conflicts but will consider ways to promote business, to increase people's income and improve their life," the Prime Minister also said.

The Dubrovnik Charter was issued by the chancellery of Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II (reigned 1218 - 1241) circa 1230 and granted Dubrovnik merchants the privilege of unimpeded access and free trade across the Bulgarian lands.

The document, written in Middle Bulgarian in black letters on a sheet of paper sized 240 by 134 mm, consists of 13 lines, the last one being the royal titulature in red, "Asen  Tsar of the Bulgarians and Greeks". It was discovered in 1817 in Dubrovnik's archives by Russian Vice Consul Gagich. The charter was taken to Russia and is now kept at the library of the Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg.