site.btaMinister Radev Participates in Salzburg Forum Ministerial Conference

Bucharest, June 15 (BTA) - Bulgarian Interior Minister Valentin Radev participated in a Salzburg Forum Ministerial Conference in Bucharest on Thursday and Friday. The first working session of the interior ministers of the Salzburg Forum countries discussed border management and mutual compatibility of information systems, the Interior Ministry said in a press release.

Radev said that the level of security at EU's external borders has a direct impact on the ability of the Union and its Member States to manage migration processes successfully, as well as on the security level in the EU as a whole. Border security is one of the main priorities of the Bulgarian EU Council Presidency, he recalled.

"Border protection is a matter that can no longer be considered only from a national point of view: for this protection to be effective, we need to think and act together at the European level," Radev also said, adding that one of the steps in this direction is the elaboration and implementation of a system for European integrated management of external borders.

On Friday, the sessions of the interior ministers continued in a broader format with the Group of Friends of the Salzburg Forum: the Western Balkan countries and Moldova.

The Salzburg Forum is one of the most active informal initiatives for regional cooperation in security within the EU, established in 2001 on Austria's initiative. It has a six-month rotating presidency, with the current presidency trio being Hungary, Poland and Romania.