Bulgaria will host the next meeting of the Arraiolos group, decided the presidents of the EU member states who are taking part. It was announced on the second day of the Eleventh meeting of the group which is being held in the German city of Erfurt.
 
In 2016 the Presidents of Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia, Portugal, Finland, Italy and Malta will hold its meeting in Bulgaria. Their host will be the Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev. Our country is one of the latest members and was invited to join the Arraiolos group for the first time in 2013. Since then, Bulgaria has taken part in the regular annual meetings held in Poland, Portugal and this year in Germany. The format was established in 2003 in Portugal, and the forthcoming hosting is an acknowledgement of the role of Bulgaria in the Arraiolos group.
 
On the second day of the Arraiolos group meeting the Bulgarian Head of State Rosen Plevneliev was welcomed by the host of this year’s meeting – the Federal President Joachim Gauck. It is expected that shortly the Head of State of the Federal Republic of Germany will make an official visit to Bulgaria as an expression of the friendship and support between the two countries. The last time when the President of the Federal Republic visited Bulgaria, Horst Köhler, was in July 2007.