Copenhagen, 25-27 March 2008
National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski has paid an official visit to the Kingdom of Denmark on 25-27 March 2008 at the invitation of Thor Pedersen, Speaker of the Danish Parliament. Georgi Pirinski was accompanied by the Head of the Bulgaria – Denmark Friendship Group, Nesrin Uzun (PG Movements for Rights and Freedoms), Atanaska Teneva (PG Coalition for Bulgaria) and Maria Koleva (PG National Movement Simeon II).
The official meeting between Chairman Georgi Pirinski and the Speaker of the Danish Folkentinget Thor Pedersen took place in the Danish Parliament. The meeting was attended also by the Folketinget Deputy Speaker Svend Auken (Social Democrates), Soren Espersen (Danish People’s Party), Holger Nielsen (Socialist People’s Party) and Helge Adam Moller (Conservative People’s Party).
On its first day the Bulgarian delegation was received by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Danish Parliament Leadership and the Danish Minister of Education and Minister for Nordic cooperation Bertel Haarder.
Georgi Pirinski and the delegation had an audience with Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark Margrethe II. The Queen expressed her satisfaction with the intensity of the bilateral relations of the last several years and underscored her excellent personal impressions of her State visit to Bulgaria on October 2000 as well as of the State visit of President Georgi Purvanov in Denmark during March 2006.
That same day Georgi Pirinski met with members of the European Affairs Committee in the Folkentinget and visited the European Information Center of the Danish parliament.
The Bulgarian delegation visited the plenary hall and was welcomed by the Speaker Thor Pedersen and the attending parliamentary members.
At the official Ceremony, in the presence of Thor Pedersen and the Deputy Chairmen, Georgi Pirinski delivered honorary diplomas and plaquettes to former and present members for their support in the process of Bulgarian accession to the European Union.
During the political talks the stress was put on the upward development in the bilateral relations in the last few years, based on the common values and vision for the future of the European Union. The Danish side expressed, on every occasion, its satisfaction with the fact that Bulgaria was one of the first European countries to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. There was an exchange of opinions on current foreign policy issues, the situation in the Balkan Region after the declaration of independence in Kosovo and the forthcoming in May elections in Serbia, the commitments in Afghanistan and the like. Views were exchanged on the way the process of cooperation in South-East Europe is carried on as compared to the one in the Nordic countries. A desire was expressed for more close contacts between the institutions in charge of coordinating this cooperation to be established.
Both the Bulgarian and Danish side demonstrated their readiness to further develop relations between the two parliaments. Georgi Pirinski extended an official invitation towards the Speaker of the Danish parliament Thor Pedersen and the Foreign Affairs Committee Leadership to visit Bulgaria. He confirmed the invitation extended by Mladen Cherveniakov, European Affairs Committee Chairman in the Bulgarian parliament towards its counterpart in the Danish parliament to visit Bulgaria.
On the last day Georgi Pirinski visited the University of South Denmark in the city of Odensee and “Hans Christian Andersen” Center. He was received by the Deputy Mayor of Odensee Alex Arendsen.
During these encounters the Bulgarian side expressed its satisfaction with the fact that thanks to the financial and logistic support of the University of South Denmark and the Center “Hans Christian Andersen” for the University of Sofia “Kliment Ohridski”, the only Center for studies of the works of the great writer Andersen outside Denmark was created. The idea is for this Center to become a Regional one on the Balkans.

The Leadership of the University of South Denmark stressed its desire to broaden the contacts with Bulgarian Higher Education Institutions and to increase the volume of admittance of Bulgarian students in the different subjects offered by the University.