site.btaDefence Minister Nenchev Meets with Greek Counterpart in Athens

Defence Minister Nenchev Meets with Greek Counterpart in Athens

Athens/Sofia, April 7 (BTA) - Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev was in Athens on Thursday to meet with his Greek counterpart Panos Kammenos in order to discuss the refugee crisis and the migratory flow to Europe, the Bulgarian Defence Ministry reported.

Emerging from the talks, Nenchev said the refugee problem is a problem of all European countries and they should solve it together. "It is necessary to show solidarity and look for mechanisms to support those countries which are experiencing the strongest migratory pressure," he said.

Nenchev's visit to Greece was part of his series of trips to Bulgaria's neighbours. Earlier, he talked with the defence ministers of Macedonia, Serbia and Romania.

Nenchev said Sofia supports Athens' efforts to control the migratory flow to and from Greece. He believes the two countries should be prepared for a future rise of the refugee influx, which will require even more active cooperation and expert-to-expert contacts. He updated Kammenos on past and future joint training events of Bulgarian military and Interior Ministry forces.

The defence ministers of Bulgaria and Greece also discussed plans for future talks between their contact groups in view of enhancing bilateral armed forces cooperation and possibly conducting joint operations to deal with the increasing refugee pressure. They expect that an upcoming informal meeting of defence and foreign ministers in Luxembourg will map out coordinating actions for the implementation of the EU-Turkey migration agreement.

The sides agreed that Bulgaria, Greece and Romania should hold a trilateral meeting dedicated to the building of a regional protection platform.

Nenchev visited a migrants camp in the Greek port city of Piraeus.