BULGARIA AND ROMANIA WILL SUPPORT SERBIA FOR EU ACCESSION

This was stated by Bulgaria’s Prime Minister, Plamen Oresharski, at a joint press conference with his Serbian and Romanian counterparts. The Prime Ministers of the three neighboring countries met on 7th March in the North Bulgarian city of Rousse to discuss a number of issues of mutual interest.

Bulgarian and Romanian Prime Ministers share the opinion that if Serbia joins EU, the three countries will have a stronger common position in the EU.

Prime Minister Oresharski said that both Bulgaria and Romania had an interest in Serbia joining EU as soon as possible in order to further enhance the cooperation between the three countries through the instruments of the European Commission. He also noted that another topic discussed during the trilateral meeting was the opportunities the Danube Strategy provided regarding joint projects for accelerated development of the region.

He noted that the three Prime Ministers signed a declaration which identified the areas of cooperation between the three countries and outlined the framework of the discussions and the future intentions for even closer cooperation.

Romania’s Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, stated that there was a great need of joint projects in the area of economy, infrastructure, energy and transport. He remarked that the three countries were in a close cooperation and were a good example for the whole region.

Serbia’s Prime Minister, Ivica Dacic, stated that Bulgaria and Romania were important political and economic partners of Serbia and added that Serbia's trade turnover with Romania amounted to 1 billion Euro and the trade turnover with Bulgaria was over half a billion Euro.

The three Prime Ministers discussed the crisis in Ukraine and its negative impact to the whole region. They expressed hope that a productive dialogue between Kiev and Moscow would find a solution to the crisis and prevent long-term negative consequences.