Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva opened a forum in Sofia, which lays the beginning of an initiative in support of the regional integration of the Western Balkans.
The participants include the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, the President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic, the Prime Ministers of Albania Edi Rama, of Macedonia Zoran Zaev, and of Serbia Ana Brnabic, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mirko Sarovic. The forum is also being attended by Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.
The discussions are focusing on ways to strengthen European integration in the region and the development of joint infrastructure projects, which is one of the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Addressing the participant, PM Borissov stated that in the Balkans, we must all be like fingers – it does not matter whether you are big or small, what matters is to be united. We have the rare opportunity of persuading our colleagues in Brussels that we bring wisdom, not just problems.
Kristalina Georgieva on her part pointed out that the meeting has a very clear-cut and specific task – to take a more serious look at transport connections and the potential in the IT sector in the region. She added that the World Bank was ready to finance trade and transport projects in the region of the Western Balkans amounting to up to 200 million USD. Commissioner Hahn declared the start of a fruitful year for the integration of the Western Balkans.
Vice President Iliana Iotova pointed out that the changed texts in the Constitution have turned against their creators. Yotova told journalists that "because of these changes in the Constitution, the Speaker of the National Assembly cannot be..
New car sales in Bulgaria in October increased three times more than the average for the European Union , where the purchase of new cars is only 1.1%. According to the Association of European Automobile Manufacturers, 75.9% of cars registered in..
77 per cent of those employed in Bulgaria's secondary education system are ready to go out on strike demanding a pay rise in the sector, according to a national survey by Podkrepa trade union. Half of those surveyed are in favour of a nation-wide..
“It’s time to lift internal border controls now,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson believes. In an interview with RFE/RL she..
The Constitutional Court has opened a case following the request by President Rumen Radev for the amendments to the Constitution, endorsed by the 49 th..
A quadripartite meeting of the interior ministers of Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and Romania in Budapest on 22 November made it clear that Austria would..
Partly Cloudy