President Plevneliev is on his first official visit in South East Europe

Friendship and cooperation between Bulgaria and Greece are of strategic importance to peace, stability and development of the region, President Rosen Plevneliev said today after meeting with his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias. President Plevneliev is on a two-day official visit to Greece at the invitation of his Greek counterpart. This is his first visit on a bilateral basis in the region.

The President is also the first European head of state to visit the country after the elections held there. “We welcome the vote of the Greek people, who supported the policy of restoring the Greek economy, to achieve stability and to support the euro. Bulgaria will support Greece on its way to new growth in the spirit of pan-European efforts as we always have done,” President Plevneliev said in a statement after talks with his Greek counterpart.

Greece is a very important trade and economic partner of Bulgaria and continues to occupy one of the leading positions in trade and foreign investments in Bulgaria, the Bulgarian President said. President Papoulias said that, despite the economic crisis in 2011, bilateral trade grew 18 per cent in 2010 and reached 2.4 billion euro. “Bulgaria is an important trading partner for Greece, and despite the difficult economic situation, Greek companies retain their interest and investment, to the point that the volume of Greek investments in Bulgaria exceeds three billion euro,” President Papoulias said. The two presidents agreed that the upcoming joint Bulgarian-Greek business forum would promote cooperation between businesses from both sides.

Greece and Bulgaria will deepen bilateral ties at all levels and will continue active political dialogue. By the end of this year there will be a joint meeting of both governments, which will consider the implementation of the results of the first meeting of the cabinets of both countries in Sofia in 2010, it emerged after the talks between Presidents Papoulias and Plevneliev.

After the official welcoming ceremony in Athens, President Rosen Plevneliev was awarded Greece’s highest state order, the “Grand Cross of the Order of the Saviour”. President Plevneliev also laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then met with President of the Parliament of the Hellenic Republic Evangelos Meimerakis. The programme of Head of State also includes meetings with the mayor of Athens Giorgos Kaminis and representatives of the Bulgarian community.

The delegation of President Rosen Plevneliev includes Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov.