Statements by leaders after the four-party summit at Evksinograd

The high-level meeting with the Prime Ministers of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, the President of Serbia and the Prime Minister of Israel was held on 2nd of November at "Evksinograd" residence in the Bulgarina coastal city of Varna.

The participants discused economic and trade cooperation at regional and European level, as well as areas for ensuring the stability of the region and its balanced development.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov stressed that the priority of our foreign policy is connectivity, competitiveness and income growth.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić thanked for the hospitality and added that the meetings were of particular importance for Serbia. Roads, natural gas, railways and the economy are the most important for countries in our region, he said. Several important areas have been discussed regarding Serbia, one of which was energy security and the construction of the so-called " "Balkan route," he added. Another topic was the infrastructure projects. The Serbian president noted that he had a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and expressed hope he would visit Serbia soon. "We are grateful for the support for Serbia's EU integration. I hope with your support we will prove that we can avoid any problems and incidents and preserve peace and security," Vučić said.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stressed the importance of this four-party summit and thanked for the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. He highly appreciated the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, paving the way for the European integration of the Western Balkans. Tsipras added that an agreement will be signed for the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis railway line and the construction of a highway from Alexandroupolis to the border with Bulgaria. Alexis Tsipras stressed the importance of energy security in the Balkans and expressed the hope that cooperation in this format would continue.

Viorica Dăncilă, Prime Minister of Romania: Today's meeting is a good occasion for the continuation of the dialogue between us as far as regional cooperation is concerned, starting from the common interests to ensure stability in the region. These are very important goals in the geopolitical situation. I have assured about the commitment undertaken by Romania to the growing connectivity in the Balkans to allow lasting growth in the region. In this respect, I have presented Romania's position, which I also expressed at the summit in Romania. For Romania, cohesion policy is and will remain the main investment policy in the EU, which will contribute significantly to the balanced development of the region.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel: We work for the good of your people by creating high-technology conditions to fight terrorism. In many cases, we have succeeded in preventing terrorist attacks and we have received assistance from the services of each of your countries, for which we are very grateful. Not everyone in our countries knows about this, but I want to thank for this cooperation and express my intention to continue this general activity to save lives. In bilateral meetings with our partners and friends, we discussed how to enhance cooperation with Israel. There are, however, three things in the general context that are particularly important: the first is technology, the second is energy and the third is security.

Boyko Borissov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria: The four that gathered here had always had one goal within the EU - to raise the level of connectivity (energy, infrastructure, digital) and our policy has never been targeted against third parties. On the contrary, we believe that with the entry of Serbia into the EU, the EU will become stronger. So, our four countries aim not only to strengthen the EU, but also to make it stronger. As far as energy security is concerned, we all have accepted that diversification is essential. It is not accidental that we named our gas hub or gas distribution center "Balkan" because the word "Balkans" is generalizing for all. This is good for the economies of these countries because in practice we will have the choice to buy the cheapest gas and the competition will lower prices rather than raising them.

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