site.btaIn Helsinki, Foreign Minister Attends Gymnich Meeting, Confers with North Macedonian, Greek Counterparts

August 30 (BTA) - Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and
Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva participated in an informal
 meeting (Gymnich) of EU Member States' foreign ministers in
Helsinki on August 29 and 30, Zaharieva's Ministry said in a
press release on Friday.

Hybrid threats was the first item on the chief diplomats' agenda
 on Thursday. They discussed it jointly with the EU defence
ministers, giving high marks to the European Centre of
Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki and
stressing the need to promote further and expand interaction
with NATO in order to counter hybrid threats successfully.

On Friday, the EU foreign ministers held a discussion with the
foreign ministers of the Western Balkan countries, focussing on
regional cooperation. They noted the important role of the
Berlin Process for improving connectivity in the region. The
forthcoming joint presidency of the Berlin Process by Bulgaria
and North Macedonia is expected to give a new strong impetus to
regional cooperation.

"The EU must demonstrate that it is a reliable partner and must
make a decision on the start of accession negotiations with the
Republic of North Macedonia and Albania," Zaharieva said,
addressing her colleagues. She sees a need to pay special
attention to measures against the exodus of young people, who
are the future of the region. According to Eurostat data, 2.2
per cent of the population of Albania and 2.1 per cent of the
population of North Macedonia emigrated in 2018 alone.

Earlier in the day on Friday, Zaharieva conferred with her
counterpart Nikola Dimitrov of North Macedonia. They discussed
Skopje's European perspective.

"Bulgaria consistently supports the European and Euro-Atlantic
integration of the Republic of North Macedonia and believes that
 EU accession negotiations must start," the Bulgarian Deputy PM
emphasized.

Together with Dimitrov, she took stock of the implementation of
the Treaty of Friendship, Goodneighbourliness and Cooperation
between their countries and of the work of the joint
multidisciplinary expert commission on historic and educational
issues, which is expected to produce further tangible results.

On Thursday, Zaharieva conferred with Greek Foreign Minister
Nikos Dendias on the sidelines of the informal EU foreign
ministers meeting.

The Deputy PM said that the relations between Bulgaria and
Greece are of strategic and friendly nature underpinned by an
active political dialogue, expanding economic cooperation,
common interests in the energy sector, and an active exchange in
 education and culture.

The two foreign ministers discussed questions of bilateral
interest and topics on the region's political agenda.

In 2018, two-way trade grew by 7.8 per cent from 2017, reaching
3.3 billion euro. IG/ZH, LG

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