Ivan Gašparovič praised our cooperation in the EU and NATO, and he reassured his counterpart of Slovakia’s support for Bulgaria joining the Schengen area. “There are opportunities such as the ‘Friends of Cohesion’ platform, the ‘V4 plus’ format and the Danube Strategy,” the Slovak President said. Gašparovič emphasised that the bilateral economic cooperation was far from reaching its potential.

Rosen Plevneliev expressed gratitude for cordial welcome and hospitality. “We share more than a thousand years of history with Slovaks, as confirmed by the works of brothers Cyril and Methodius of Thessaloniki,” he said.

Plevneliev praised the high level of mutual relations and said that bilateral agreements, which were signed today, represented another token of welcoming attitude.

Bulgarian President considers research and production activities in the area of information technologies to be one of the key sectors for businesses. Both heads of state also discussed issues related to energy production, safety of nuclear power plants, as well as diversification of energy sources and routes. According to Gašparovič, “the European Union must pay more attention to the immigration issue.” He added that Slovakia wanted to help Bulgaria in handling the situation concerning illegal immigrants from Syria by providing EUR100,000 for this purpose. During the plenary session of the delegations in the Presidential Palace, the Slovak President handed over a symbolic cheque for this amount to his Bulgarian partner.