site.btaPrime Minister Borissov Confers with Liechtenstein Counterpart Hasler

Sofia, January 26 (BTA) - Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov conferred with the Prime Minister of Liechtenstein, Adrian Hasler, the government's information service said on Friday. The two officials continued the topics discussed earlier in the day at a meeting of Borissov and Hereditary Prince Alois. Attending the meeting with Hasler were also Bulgarian EU Presidency Minister Lilyana Pavlova and the Liechtenstein Foreign Affairs, Justice and Culture Minister, Aurelia Frick.

Borissov informed the participants in the meeting about the debates in Bulgaria on the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, commonly known as the Istanbul Convention. Borissov's comments were prompted by a remark by Frick that she had learned about the discussions. Liechtenstein has joined the Convention. In Bulgaria its ratification was postponed until after June. "The Istanbul Convention concerns violence against women and children. The populist-minded politicians in Bulgaria misled the public. Apparently, we failed to explain the Convention well enough. We are now going to do this better," Borissov said.

The participants in the meeting also discussed opportunities for joint projects and programmes in the area of dual education. Noting that education is "the Number One priority of the Bulgarian EU Presidency," Borissov listed the first steps Bulgaria has made in this respect, including measures to attract back to the classroom school drop-outs, gradual increase of teachers' pay, increasing the funding to science and education, and development of vocational training in partnership with the business.