site.bta SEECP Foreign Ministers Adopt Joint Statement to Deal with Migration Crisis

SEECP Foreign Ministers Adopt Joint Statement to Deal with Migration Crisis

Sofia, February 2 (BTA) - The participants in the Second Informal Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Sofia adopted a joint statement on Tuesday.

The meeting was held within the framework of the Bulgarian SEECP Chair It convened seven foreign ministers, as well as deputy SEECP foreign ministers, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council Goran Svilanovic and representatives of the European Commission.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov told a news conference of the so-called SEECP Troika (the incumbent, former and future Chairmans of the process), that the migration crisis is something which concerns everyone and that there is not a single country that can resolve it unilaterally. "The EU must think of itself as an alliance, without individual countries trying to make separate decisions and to cope as best they can with what national interests dictate, not those of the community," Mitov said.

The statement, which will be presented at a forthcoming meeting of EU foreign ministers in Amsterdam, focuses on strict control of EU external borders and the mobilization of all efforts and instruments for dialogue with the countries that are the source of the migrant influx, particularly the economic migrants, Mitov said.