The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Maja Gojkovic met today with the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, Dimitar Glavchev, currently in official visit to the Republic of Serbia. The two parliament speakers opined that the relations between Serbia and Bulgaria are good and friendly, and both countries are eager to deepen them, an effort in which the parliaments play an important role.
Gojkovic said that the Bulgarian Parliament Speaker’s visit is especially important in view of the fact that it comes on the eve of Bulgaria taking over the presidency of the EU in January 2018, which is important both for Serbia and the entire region.
The National Assembly Speaker thanked Bulgaria for its support of Serbia’s Euro-integration and continuous efforts to spur on the EU enlargement policy, which is to be one of the priorities of its presidency, stressing that Serbia is committed to EU accession and fully prepared for the talks and implementation of the obligations resulting from the process.
The Bulgarian Parliament Speaker restated that Serbia can count of Bulgaria’s support on the path to Euro-integration, stressing that Serbia is making significant reforms and investing enormous efforts to that end, and that Bulgaria is ready to assist it with its experiences.
Glavchev said that the Western Balkans would be one of the priorities of Bulgaria’s agenda during its EU presidency, starting 1 January 2018.
The two heads of parliament said that the existing interparliamentary cooperation is good and discussed how to deepen it further and concretize it through more intensive cooperation between the working bodies and friendship groups. In that context, Gojkovic mentioned the coming meeting of the Serbian, Bulgarian and Romanian foreign affairs committees in Belgrade, to also be attended by the Chairman of the Hellenic Parliament’s Committee on National Defence and Foreign Affairs.
Gojkovic and Glavchev agreed on the importance of improving the economic relations, especially as regards road infrastructure, especially the construction of the Nis-Sofia highway, as well as cooperation in the fields of energy, education and culture.
Gojkovic and Glavchev also spoke about the status of national minorities, and the Bulgarian Parliament Speaker said that the legislation is excellent and applauded Serbia’s efforts in the area, saying that considerable progress has been achieved in the field of education and printing of textbooks for the Bulgarian national minority, the biggest in the last 30 years.
The Bulgarian Parliament Speaker addressed the MPs at a Special Sitting of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.
