Germany is a key partner to Bulgaria and the political and economic cooperation between the two countries testifies on that. The federal republic is a leading investor here with over 5,000 companies and a record turnover of more than EUR 6 billion per year. Both countries are looking for opportunities for an even broader cooperation not only in their bilateral relations, but also in the solving of the heavy conflicts along the EU borders – the crisis in Ukraine and the Middle East tumult. That was stated by both foreign ministers – Daniel Mitov and Frank-Walter Steinmeier during their Tuesday talks in Sofia.

“Europe will have to face great challenges over the next weeks and months and I hope we will overcome those together,” Mr. Steinmeier said in Sofia. “The cooperation between Bulgaria and Germany is particularly important at a background of growing and more complicated challenges that the EU is facing. The Ukrainian crisis endangers European security, but the EU also feels economic difficulties and the crisis in Greece is an example of that. We need to work together for the solving of these issues. We need each other. Germany looks for Bulgaria’s piece of advice, as the latter is a Black Sea country, situated in a dynamically changing region. Major and basic decisions in the energy policy sphere are to be taken here too,” Mr. Steinmeier underlined.

Voicing his support to his German counterpart, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov underlined that the Bulgarian government viewed its relations with Berlin as such of strategic importance. He pointed to the tackled subjects that are of major significance for Bulgaria:

“Talks focused on the European perspective of the Western Balkans, the support and encouragement of the reforms necessary there with the purpose of reaching the European standards. We also discussed the necessity of a new approach and strategy of the EU, as far as the Black Sea region is concerned. We will also work on the future of the Minsk process, on the problems between Russia and Ukraine and the conflict in the latter. Of course, we continue to work on the challenges related to the crisis in Syria, Iraq, the Middle East and with regard to the growing refugee pressure. The bilateral energy dialogue was one of the other matters we tackled, aiming at the achieving of sustainable guarantees for our country’s energy security.”

Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov said during his meeting with Mr. Steinmeier that he dreamt of at least one German automobile plant to be opened in Bulgaria and reasoned his wish for an entire car to be assembled here by pointing to the successfully developing car parts industry. “We don’t care whether it will be BMW, Mercedes or Porsche,” Borissov stated. Definitely amused by this statement, the German foreign minister said Bulgaria was an attractive destination for investments, but underlined there was still more to be wanted:

“The reforms in the country’s home policy are important for the attraction of investments, also the ones within the judicial system, the problems with public procurements should be overcome – that is how the cooperation with Germany will enhanced even more,” Mr. Steinmeier underlined. “The economic turnover between our two countries continues to grow year on year. The potential is not used up yet and that is why it is worth working for a greater legal security and transparency of processes. I hope that all these opportunities will be strongly increased in Bulgaria,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier went on to say.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev