18.02.2022
A new level of trust is needed between us and our European partners on the Schengen issue as quite a number of the promises given to them over the years have appeared to be lies, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said to reporters in Brussels. The Prime Minister summed up the results of his meetings with heads of state and government of countries from the EU and Africa in the capital of Belgium.
In a talk with Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov noted the present Bulgarian Government’s determination to inject real substance and to enable all that had had just a verbal form in the past to materialize. “Nominally, we have met the criteria; the question now is to really conform to them,” Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said after the meeting as he emphasized the importance of border control and the fight against smuggling. The Prime Minister added that a serious dialog with the European partners would discuss the areas where they see potential gaps so that they are addressed.
In Brussels Prime Minister Kiril Petkov talked with Germany’s Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Their meeting focused on infrastructure issues. Petkov and Scholz discussed the possibility for Bulgaria to draw on Germany’s experience in motorway construction. On the other hand, French expertise in railway transport was one of the points discussed by Prime Minister Petkov with the President of France Emmanuel Macron.
Consolidation of bilateral partnership in defense industry was discussed at the meeting of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov with the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi. “What I deem important is that state-owned and private defense industry enterprises should be able to trade under win-win terms and conditions rather than enrich middlemen,” Mr. Petkov added. On his part, Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi informed the Bulgarian Prime Minister that Egypt could supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Bulgaria.
Speaking to the media, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov announced his meeting with the President of the Republic of Rwanda Paul Kagame. President Kagame congratulated Bulgaria’s Prime Minister on the Government’s policy of zero tolerance for corruption.
Later today, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov flies to Germany to take part in the Munich Security Conference (MSC). For the 58th time the MSC brings together more than 30 heads of state and government, over 100 cabinet ministers and leaders of major international organizations such as the UN, NATO and the EU. The forum will be opened by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The delegates will discuss issues in the field of policy, business and science and will review the present and future challenges that confront security. Pivotal points on the conference agenda are devoted to global challenges such as the fight against the pandemic and the mitigation of the climate crisis, the protection of democracy, the control on technologies, regional challenges and situations in some of the world’s heaviest conflict-stricken zones. In Munich Prime Minister Petkov will have a series of bilateral meetings.
