The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic talked to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Prvanov. At the very beginning of the meeting, the Bulgarian President thanked the Serbian Assembly Speaker for visiting Sofia as it would encourage active political dialogue between Serbia and Bulgaria.

Expressing support for Serbia’s European integration process, Prvanov stressed the importance of integrating the entire Western Balkans into the European family of nations.

“I am glad that the relations between the two countries are heading in a good direction, which was enabled to a great extent by the parliamentarians themselves”, Prvanov said. The officials agreed that increasing economic cooperation should be the both countries’ basic task, but that they should also cooperate on issues concerning Corridor 10, border crossings, energy stability and the Danube river programme. These issues will be the topic of the meeting between the Serbian and Bulgarian Prime Ministers planned for Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s visit to Belgrade next Monday.

After the meeting with the Bulgarian President, the Serbian delegation was received by the Minister of Foreign Affaires Nikolay Mladenov. Mladenov stressed that Serbia is an important partner to Bulgaria in the Balkans and endorsed Serbia’s European integration, not only because of the two countries’ close relations but because it is in the best interest of all EU members states. Mladenov also announced a visit to former Yugoslavian countries at the beginning of May this year.