BULGARIAN PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION IS VISITING THE GERMAN FEDERAL STATES OF RHINELAND- PFALZ AND BADEN-WUERTEMBERG

19 March 2007

For his personal contribution to and support for Bulgaria's EU membership, National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski decorated with an honorary plaquette the President of the German Bundestag Dr. Norbert Lammert. Thirty-six German parliamentarians of all parliamentary groups of the Bundestag will also be honoured for their contribution to the successful Bulgaria's accession to the European Union.

The Bulgarian parliamentary delegation, led by National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski, started its visit to the German Federal States of Rhineland- Pfalz and Baden-Wuertemberg on 19 March 2007 with a series of meetings in Mainz, the capital of Rhineland- Pfalz, one of the most dynamically developing German federal states.

The Bulgarian delegation was received by Rhineland- Pfalz Landtag President Joachim Mertes.

"Bulgaria's successful EU membership depends to a great extent on the active and fruitful cooperation with the Federal Republic of Germany, including with the federals states as Rhineland-Pfalz and Baden-Wuertemberg," National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski said. "The partnership within the European Union opens new opportunities which we should use for the well-being of the people of Bulgaria and Germany," he added.

At the Landtag of Rhineland- Pfalz, the Bulgarian parliamentarians, accompanied by Mrs. Iskra Mihailova, Regional Development and Public Works Deputy Minister and Mrs. Ginka Chavdarova, Executive Director of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, held meetings with members of the three parliamentary groups, with members of the EU Affairs Committee and with Dr. Karl-Juergen Wilbert, Bulgaria's Honorary Consul for Rhineland- Pfalz.

Landtag President Joachim Mertes gave an official lunch in honour of the Bulgarian delegation which was attended by German parliamentarians, representatives of foundations and public figures. National Assembly Chairman Pirinski presented the priorities of the Bulgarian Parliament after Bulgaria's EU accession before the German hosts.

At an expressly organized ceremony in the Landtag Building, Pirinski decorated Dr. Karl-Juergen Wilbert, Bulgaria's Honorary Consul for Rhineland- Pfalz, with the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry's Gold Laurel Branch Badge of Honour for his remarkable personal contribution to the deepening of political and economic relations between Bulgaria and Rhineland- Pfalz.

On the second day of its visit to Germany, the Bulgarian parliamentary delegation will visit Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Wuerttemberg, and is scheduled to confer with Landtag President Peter Straub, with the Minister of the State Ministry and for European Affairs Willi Staechele, and with the Mayor of Stuttgart Dr. Wolfgang Schuster.