Interior and Finance Ministers Kalin Stoyanov and Assen Vassilev held a meeting with UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Cameron, the Interior and Finance Ministries reported here on Wednesday. Cameron is on a working visit to Bulgaria.
In the context of the cooperation between Bulgaria and the UK, the two Bulgarian officials briefed their British counterpart on the results of the work of border and customs officials in preventing smuggling of goods and trafficking of migrants.
Cameron highlighted the Interior Ministry’s efforts against illegal migration and underlined that they are saving lives.
"The fight against illegal trafficking through small boats is one of the main lines of work of the Ministry of Interior, in particular of General Directorate Border Police and General Directorate Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC). With the assistance of the National Customs Agency, we have found a solution based on which we have the ability to detect and seize this type of vessels, engines and equipment," Minister Kalin Stoyanov pointed out.
Earlier on Wednesday, Cameron highlighted Bulgaria's support in Britain's struggle with the small boat crossings that have been happening across the English Channel. „I am glad to say they are down by a third over the recent period and not least because of the excellent support we have had from our friends and colleagues in Bulgaria who have done a lot to stop the import of these boats and engines that are used for the Channel crossings,“ he said during a news conference after his meeting with Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel.
"We work extremely well with colleagues in the UK. We are currently in the process of finalizing an intergovernmental agreement to ensure 100% scanning with X-ray equipment at the Bulgarian-Turkish border," Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said.
Cameron, Stoyanov, Vassilev, UK Ambassador to Bulgaria Rob Dixon, General Directorate Border Police Director Anton Zlatanov and GDCOC Director Pavel Tonev visited the base of the specialized Air Surveillance Unit of the Border Police. There, they attended a demonstration of the work of customs dogs. The delegation examined some of the seized boats, which do not meet European standards, and their engines and attachments, which were being smuggled across borders to be used in the transportation of illegal migrants across the Channel.
/MY/
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