site.bta Bulgarian Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee Members Hold Talks in Romania

Bulgarian Parliament's Foreign Policy Committee Members Hold Talks in Romania

Sofia, May 19 (BTA) - A delegation of the Foreign Policy
Committee of the Bulgarian Parliament, headed by Committee Chair
 Djema Grozdanova, is paying an official visit to Romania at the
 invitation of the Romanian Senate's Foreign Policy Committee
Chair Petru Filip, the Bulgarian Parliament reported on Tuesday.

The guests held talks with Senate President Calin
Popescu-Tariceanu and with senator Filip. The sides noted the
good partnership between the two countries' parliaments and the
successful institutional cooperation between the Bulgarian and
Romanian authorities within the EU and NATO.

The visiting parliamentarians said it is extremely important for
 Bulgaria and Romania to formulate common positions in order to
achieve their shared goals, with accession to the Schengen
border-free area remaining the main priority for both countries.
 The sides considered various possibilities for joint actions to
 this end. They concurred that as neighbours in Eastern Europe,
Bulgaria and Romania should not be decoupled on the path to
Schengen. The two countries expect that the Schengen area will
open its "blue borders" with them by the end of 2015.

The Bulgarian delegation also drew attention to regional
initiatives. Grozdanova asked Romania to support Bulgaria's
proposal for the Regional Secretariat for Parliamentary
Cooperation in South-East Europe to be headquartered in Sofia.
She said that the tripartite cooperation initiative between
Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia should continue on the
parliamentary level after the Craiova meeting of the three
countries' prime ministers. She said that Sofia could host a
meeting of the foreign policy committees of the Bulgarian,
Romanian and Serbian parliaments.

The Bulgarian lawmakers also conferred with the chair of the
Schengen Committee in the Romanian Parliament, with the Foreign
Policy Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, and with the
Romania-Bulgaria Friendship Group.