President Rosen Plevneliev met today "Dondukov" 2 with the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Boris Šprem, who is visiting Bulgaria on the occasion of the National Assembly’s ratification of Croatia’s EU Accession Treaty.

At the meeting, Rosen Plevneliev and Boris Šprem highlighted the strong cultural ties between Bulgarians and Croats and the excellent political dialogue between all institutions of both countries - presidents, executive, parliaments and local authorities.

President Plevneliev said that Bulgaria wholeheartedly supports the efforts and the reforms carried out by the Croatian people to complete the process of European integration. Speaker Šprem expressed appreciation for the National Assembly’s swift ratication of Croatia’s EU Accession Treaty and expressed his hope that Bulgaria would continue to support Croatia in achieving full membership in the EU.

President Plevneliev and Speaker Šprem noted Bulgaria’s and Croatia’s common interest in maintaining macro-economic stability in the two countries, to encourage foreign investment, increase efficiency in combating corruption and organized crime and to improve the business environment. Further, Plevneliev and Šprem believe that there is potential to expand bilateral trade and economic partnerships, and to increase the volume of direct investments in areas such as infrastructure, tourism and energy.

President Plevneliev and Speaker Šprem also noted the interest of both countries in working together through the Danube Strategy as an effective way towards development, economic prosperity and connecting the regions of the Danube countries.

President Plevneliev emphasised Bulgaria's aspiration to achieve significant improvement in terms of navigation and conditions for navigation on the Danube and to co-operate in the fullest realization of the potential of European Transport Corridor ? 7.