The rapid renewal of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the basis of the two-state principle is essential, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a joint news conference in Ramallah. The Bulgarian President paid an official visit on Wednesday to the Palestinian Authority.

President Abbas told journalists that the Palestinian Authority’s position was that Israel must meet its international commitments and adhere to the Oslo accords. He said that this was a necessary condition for progress in the negotiations on mutual recognition, the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees, the common border, water resources and security.

President Abbas expressed the determination of the Palestinian Authority to receive the status of a non-member country of the UN. "This step is not in conflict with the Middle East peace process, or an alternative to direct negotiations," Abbas said. President Plevneliev said that Bulgaria would support the EU's efforts to develop a common position on the issue, after taking note of the specific terms of the Palestinian request to the UN.

President Plevneliev said that Bulgaria would continue to promote the deepening of economic co-operation and commercial and industrial links between Bulgaria and Palestine. He said that there were particularly promising opportunities for the development of bilateral co-operation in the fields of engineering, pharmacy and infrastructure.

He said that Bulgaria had expressed its support for the Action Plan and the Interim Association Agreement between the EU and Palestine. President Plevneliev confirmed Bulgaria’s support for the actions of the European Commission to alleviate the situation of the population in the West Bank.

The Bulgarian President reiterated Bulgaria’s call for an immediate end to the violence in Syria, which has drawn the Syrian population into civil war and which threatens a humanitarian catastrophe.