site.btaGovernments of Bulgaria and Macedonia to Hold Joint Meeting in Early December

115 POLITICS - MACEDONIA - PRIME MINISTER - VISIT

Governments of Bulgaria and Macedonia
to Hold Joint Meeting
in Early December


Sofia, November 15 (BTA) - The governments of Bulgaria and Macedonia will hold a joint meeting in early December. It will coincide with the inauguration of a section of the Strouma Motorway between Kresna and Sandanski, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov told journalists in Sofia Thursday, emerging from a meeting with his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev.

Zaev expressed his satisfaction with the frequent and fruitful meetings he has had with Borissov. Among the many positive results of these meetings, he singled out the two countries' Treaty of Friendship, Good-neighbourliness and Cooperation, Bulgaria's support for the integration of the Western Balkans into NATO and the EU, and the building of infrastructure between Bulgaria and Macedonia, including road, railway and natural gas links.

"Annual two-way trade already exceeds 500 million euro but we want it to reach 1 billion euro," Zaev said.

He announced that Macedonia will restore a monument to Colonel Konstantin Kavarnaliev near Valandovo. The monument was destroyed in 1966 during a campaign to remove Bulgarian military monuments in the then Yugoslavia. Another memorial to be restored is a plaque for hundreds of Bulgarian soldiers and officers who died in the 1916 Battle of Kajmakcalan during World War I, Zaev said.

He noted: "Boyko Borissov and I have been celebrating holidays and commemorating important dates together." He recalled the joint observances of the Day of Slav Letters (May 24) and the anniversaries of the 1903 Preobrazhenie Uprising (August 2). RY/VE
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