site.btaBulgaria Acknowledges Efforts of Turkish Authorities to Stop Migrants from Entering Bulgaria

Bulgaria Acknowledges Efforts of Turkish Authorities to Stop Migrants from Entering Bulgaria

New York, UN, September 28 (BTA) - The EU and Turkey are part of the solution to the refugee crisis. President Rosen Plevneliev and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu rallied behind the idea during a bilateral meeting within the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York. Participating in the meeting were Interior Minister Roumyana Buchvarova and Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov, said Plevneliev Press Secretariat.

Turkey has an important role in seeking a solution to the crisis because nearly two million Syrian refugees live in the country. Turkish Prime Minister Davutoglu assured President Plevneliev that Turkey will further cooperation with the Bulgarian authorities on the migrant issue. "Bulgaria acknowledges the efforts of theTurkish authorities to stop illegal migrants from entering Bulgaria. We are grateful to our Turkish counterparts and the past months have shown that we are more efficient together," said Plevneliev.

President Plevneliev said that the two countries are preparing jointly special mechanisms for control at the Bulgarian-Turkish border. A case in point is an agreement for the setting up of a police and custom cooperation centre between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. According to the head of State, a longterm sustainable solution to the migrant issue could be achieved only through solving the crisis in Syria. "When human rights and freedoms are compromised, everything is compromised. In the following days the international community will negotiate and will be seeking solutions. The world political elite is determined to resolve the conflict but this won't happen overnight."

The Turkish Prime Minister informed President Plevneliev that the construction of a high-speed rail from Turkey to the border with Bulgaria is making good progress. For his part, Plevneliev said that Bulgaria is making efforts to upgrade its rail infrastructure and that the stretch between Plovdiv and Svilengrad has been completed and that soon the Maritsa motorway will be completed too. Plevneliev and Davutoglu were firm that a gas interconnector between the two countries is on the agenda and that it is crucial to the diversification of gas deliveries to Bulgaria form the Caspian Region. The two commented the growth in bilateral exchange which has doubled after Plevneliev's official visit to Turkey in 2012.

Later in the day, Plevneliev will confer with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon within the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly. Among other issues, the two will discuss the selection of a UN Secretary General. Plevneliev told journalists that he welcomes a recent UN resolution about the selection. Countries are expected to begin to submit their nominations in January 2016. According to Plevneliev, this will ensure greater transparence and better chances for stronger candidates and will eliminate behind-the scenes deals.

"Bulgaria will comply with the procedure and will be one of the first to put forward a strong nomination. I am certain that the next UN Secretary General will be from Eastern Europe and will be a woman. The UN has had eight secretaries-general, all of whom have been men," said President Plevneliev.