Printer Friendly Version Visit by Aleksandar Vučić, President R. Serbia, Sofia, February 23, 2018. @ 20 June 2018 09:37 AM

During a meeting with Bulgarian President R. Radevim, PR Vucic convinced his host that Serbia is ready to finance the media in the Bulgarian language and will do everything to make the Bulgarian minority in Serbia feel at home. PR А. Vucic said that in the Republic of Srpska currently 1031 pupils in schools in Serbia teach Bulgarian language and hope that this number will grow in the future. For its part, PR BG R. Radev said that Bulgaria supports the RS's Eurointegration and that it is good that Eu in its enlargement strategy for countries Z. The Balkans has given a concrete date for Serbia to become a member of the EU. Radev also said that the high price of the previous reforms undertaken by the RS and its openness and openness to talk with everyone, in this respect, highlighted Belgrade's previous commitment to dialogue with Pristina. We are glad that the peaceful solution to the Kosovo problem and the dialogue of the two do not have an alternative, but also that it is necessary to listen to the voice of Serbia, or its proposal for the solution of the future status of Kosovo. PR Vucic, for his part, presented the problem of Kosovo as the toughest obstacle on Serbia's path to the EU, stressing that the dialogue will continue, that Serbia will do its best to reach a compromise solution that both sides will be satisfied, and that if the compromise does not come, Belgrade and Pristina will eventually be losers. Regarding the position of the Bulgarian minority in Serbia, PR A. Vucic expressed Serbia's readiness to finance Bulgarian-language media for the Bulgarian national minority living in the RS, and informed the public that the bilateral agreement on cooperation in the field of education and science of the two countries will be renewed. PR R. Radeva replied that Bulgaria highly appreciates the latest changes in the RS legislation regarding the rights of national minorities in Serbia, but also estimates that more effort is needed to make these legislative changes a concrete result, both at the state and local level. He urged Belgrade to invest more in the regions where the Bulgarian national minority lives. PR RS Vucic, for his part, said that the RS is ready to solve the problems that the inhabitants of BIH and DIMITRHRUD Municipality are working on, to work on the promotion of the Bulgarian language and to finance the media in the Bulgarian language. Both Presidents emphasized that it is important to seek mutual reconciliation in order to build a better common future, and that problems from the past should be left behind. PR Vučić invited PR Radeva to visit the RS and to go with him to the regions where the Bulgarian people live. minority in Serbia. As for other issues, we emphasize PR Radeva's position that Serbia can become a member of the EU by 2025. and that it has full support from Bulgaria. Regarding infrastructure projects of importance for the two countries, PR Vucic said that Serbia will soon finish building the section of the main road to the border with Bulgaria, to electrify the Nis-Dimitrovgrad railroad, and that, after the meeting of the two presidents, it became clear that it was working intensively and on the issue of building interconnectors and pipelines between the two countries. In addition, PR Vucic also met with other high-ranking Bulgarian officials. During the meeting with the Bulgarian Parliamentary Assembly C. Karajancev was talking about the possibilities of developing cooperation in the field of economy, tourism and infrastructure. Karajanceva stressed that tourism is one of Bulgaria's priorities and that the current Bulgarian government plans to make Bulgaria a year-round tourist destination. In order to achieve this goal, it is first of all necessary to build a good road infrastructure between Bulgaria and its neighbors, and so Serbia, in order to make it easier for tourists to access Bulgarian tourist destinations. Therefore, the question of infra-structural construction with Serbia, as the closest neighbor of Bulgaria, is one of the most important issues for Sofia. PR Vucic, for his part, said that tourism should be viewed not only as a source of income, but also as an opportunity for better acquaintance of the citizens of the two countries, and to rejoice that the number of Bulgarian tourists in Serbia is constantly increasing, and that, by the number of foreign tourists in Serbia, in the fourth place. During the stay of PR Vucic in Sofia, the Ministers of Transport of Bulgaria and Serbia I. Moskovskii i Z. Mihajlovic signed two memoranda on the construction of a port for the storage and transport of natural gas, and on the construction of the Sofia-Nis highway. The signing of the memorandum was attended by PR Vučić and the Bulgarian MIP E. Zaharieff with whom PR Vucic had a bilateral meeting before that. Zaharieff said that the signed memorandums would speed up the construction of the railway section which is part of the European Corridor 10 and that the construction of the liquefied gas port will increase the energy independence of Serbia and Bulgaria. PR Vucic, for his part, thanked Bulgaria for its support on the European road to Serbia, adding that Serbia will continue to carefully develop good relations with Bulgaria, and is looking forward to the fact that the mutual trade between the two countries increased by 40% in the previous year that only an increase in tourist exchange has recorded