site.btaBulgarian Foreign Minister Meets with Foreign Counterparts in New York

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Meets with Foreign Counterparts in New York

New York/Sofia, September 25 (BTA) - Bulgarian Foreign Minister
Daniel Mitov met with his counterparts Mevlut Cavusoglu of
Turkey, Nikola Poposki of Macedonia and Ibrahim al-Jaafari of
Iraq on September 24 in the sidelines of the 69th Session of the
UN General Assembly in New York, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry
reported on Thursday.

The chief diplomats of Bulgaria and Turkey discussed ways to
boost bilateral cooperation by using available mechanisms and
tapping the full potential of Bulgarian-Turkish relations. Mitov
noted the importance of joint projects, particularly in the
field of energy supply, singling out the construction of a
natural gas interconnector between the two countries.

Mitov also said that the immigrant barriers on the Bulgarian
side of the Bulgarian-Turkish border are only temporary and
should not be viewed as damaging bilateral relations, because
they are simply a part of Sofia's efforts to deal with immigrant
pressure. He stressed that it is essential to sign a trilateral
border control agreement between Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria.

Cavusoglu promised to help invigorate contacts between the
competent institutions in the two countries in their joint
effort to handle the increased migration flow through Turkey and
Bulgaria.

Mitov and Cavusoglu discussed the situation in Syria and Iraq
and expressed their firm support for the international efforts
against terrorism, particularly against the Islamic State
militant group.

During the talks between the Foreign Ministers of Bulgaria and
Macedonia, the sides discussed matters of bilateral cooperation
and Macedonia's European and Euro-Atlantic prospects. Mitov and
Poposki confirmed their plans to continue the expert-level
negotiations for a bilateral agreement on good-neighbourly
relations, noting that the next meeting of the respective
working groups will be held later in the autumn.

Mitov and Poposki described as a positive step the sending of
their joint letter of February 19 to European Enlargement
Commissioner Stefan Fule and European Regional Policy
Commissioner Johannes Hahn concerning the funding of the
construction of European Corridor 8. They concurred that the
project is of bilateral, regional and all-European significance.

Within the UN General Assembly session, the Bulgarian Foreign
Minister attended a ministerial meeting on "Syria: Supporting
Moderate Voices," the Foreign Ministry said. British Foreign
Secretary Philip Hammond co-hosted the event with the chief
diplomats of the United States, France, Germany and Turkey. The
meeting was also attended by Syrian National Coalition President
Hadi al-Bahra and proceeded with the active involvement of a
number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the
United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

In yet another bilateral meeting, Mitov conferred with Iraqi
Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to discuss the situation in
Iraq and the need for a concerted effort against the Islamic
State. Al-Jaafari said that the Islamic State presents a
challenge not only to the legitimate Iraqi government but also
to the security of a number of countries in the Middle East and
elsewhere.

Mitov and al-Jaafari expressed their shared belief that the
international community should make an active commitment to
resolving the crisis. Mitov said Bulgaria has decided to provide
military aid to the government in Baghdad. His counterpart
thanked for the support, saying that his government highly
appreciates it.