site.btaPresident Plevneliev Confers with Macedonian Counterpart Ivanov

President Plevneliev Confers with Macedonian Counterpart Ivanov

Sofia, November 22 (BTA) - The signing of an Agreement for Good Neighborly Relations between Bulgaria and Macedonia is an important step along the way to peaceful promotion of the relations between the two peoples and the European integration of the countries in the region, President Rosen Plevneliev said. HE was speaking at a working meeting with Macedonian President Georje Ivanov, the Press Secretariat of the Head of State said Tuesday.

Plevneliev expressed confidence that the Agreement with Macedonia will lead to more mutual investments, successful regional infrastructure projects, achievements in the sphere of tourism and mobility of qualified specialists, citing as examples similar agreements with Turkey and Romania which had a beneficial effect on the development of regional cooperation.

The Bulgarian Head of State also recalled the importance this country sets on the preservation and restoration of Bulgarian military monuments and that it expects a final resolution of the issue of Kajmakcalan soon. A memorial plaque marking the Battle of Kajmakcalan between Bulgarian and Serbian troops during World War I was recently vandalized by a Macedonian citizen, but later proved to have been illegally placed.

Plevneliev underscored the importance of reforms in key spheres in Macedonia and of guaranteeing the independence of the judiciary as an integral part of the country's way to European integration.

Ivanov called for more regional initiatives to make the Balkans a more attractive participant in the formulation of European politics. "This region should be bound together, it should be led by pragmaticism, not allowing historical problems to be an obstacle before cooperation in the present-day world," he said.

The Macedonian President is paying a working visit to Bulgaria within which he was declared Doctor honoris causa of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.