Bulgaria’s PM Boyko Borissov met his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Boyko Borissov met his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic in the Council of Ministers in Zagreb on November 21. Before the talks, the Bulgarian Prime Minister left a message in the "Golden Book" at the institution with the wish - "For the success of Bulgaria and Croatia", the press office of the Council of Ministers announced.

Borissov and Plenkovic discussed the priorities of the upcoming Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU (January-June 2020) with an emphasison on the the commitment to carry over the topic of the Western Balkans' European integration. The topic was high on the agenda of Europe by Bulgaria during its first Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2018.

The construction of Transport Corridor No. 8 will be beneficial for the entire region, including Croatia, Borissov.

Boyko Borissov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria: The European integration of the Western Balkans will continue to be one of Bulgaria's major foreign policy priorities as it is an instrument for achieving stability, peace and prosperity in the region. We very much appreciate the commitment by the forthcoming Croatian Presidency on continuity on the topic from the Bulgrian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

It is not possible to achieve social and economic cohesion in Europe unless we improve transport, energy and digital infrastructure in the region and across the EU, Prime Minister Borissov told Plenkovic.

PM Borissov declared Bulgaria’s support for the priority topics of the Croatian Presidency, such as negotiations on the new EU budget, deepening of the Single Market and digitization, investing in education and innovation, which are the basis of our competitiveness in the globalised world.

The two prime ministers discussed the deepening of trade and economic cooperation between Bulgaria and Croatia, as well as the potential to promote investment and to mutually attract investors. Infrastructure projects, tourism, food industry, ICT and energy were singled out as promising areas for cooperation between Bulgarian and Croatian companies.

Boyko Borissov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria: We share common interests in regional infrastructure projects. Therefore, we believe that the construction of Transport Corridor 8 will benefit the whole region, including Croatia, as it will provide an alternative route to the Black Sea - and further to the Caspian region and Central Asia.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister stressed that the two countries should jointly support the European policy for strengthening the energy infrastructure and the development of projects aimed at diversification of routes and sources of natural gas.

We consider equally important projects for the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector and the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal on the island of Krk in Croatia, Prime Minister Borissov stressed. In the same context, the project for the construction of a gas hub on the territory of Bulgaria aims to create the necessary infrastructure connecting the EU gas markets with the countries of the Energy Community (Serbia, the Republic of North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina).

The two prime ministers praised the upward trend in the bilateral cooperation in culture and education.