site.btaUPDATED Bulgarian Interior Minister, British Immigration Minister to Sign Joint Statement on Enhanced Cooperation

A British delegation led by the Minister of State for Immigration, Robert Jenrick, is visiting Bulgaria on Monday. Jenrick and Bulgarian Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov are scheduled to sign a joint statement on enhanced cooperation in countering and preventing organized crime in the field of immigration, the Interior Ministry reported.

The document, proposed by the UK, envisages the establishment of a joint working group tasked with determining ways to deepen the bilateral cooperation between the competent authorities and with assessing the implemented activities.

Stoyanov and Jenrick will also discuss the joint efforts in the fight against illegal migration, including by disrupting the supply chain of migrant smugglers. They will give a briefing at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the Bulgarian-Turkish border. A British delegation led by the Minister of State for Immigration, Robert Jenrick met with acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov, the prosecution service said. 

Attending the meeting was British Ambassador Robert Dixon. 

The Bulgarian side included Maria Pavlova, Deputy Prosecutor General with the Supreme Prosecution of Cassation, Elena Karakasheva, Deputy Prosecutor General with the Supreme Administrative Prosecution and Prosecutor Vanya Stefanova of the Supreme Prosecution of Cassation.   

The agenda was dominated by challenges to national and partner services in Europe such as illegal migration, caused by regional and local military conflicts and transnational crime. 
Sarafov underscored Bulgaria’s key role to the effective controls of the EU’s external borders and overcoming security problems related to migration in order to stem migrant pressure on the European Union and the UK.  

Minister Jenrick thanked the Bulgarian prosecution for the support in countering human trafficking. He expressed satisfaction with the close cooperation between Bulgarian and British law enforcers in the fight against organized immigration crime.  

Within the framework of the meeting the two sides rallied around the need for harmonized application of rules and standards for border control and for a consistent approach to countering transnational crimes and other forms of international crime in order to strengthen the European security system.