February 13, 2009

A Bulgarian parliamentary delegation, headed by National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski, paid a two-day official visit (February 12-13) to Slovakia at the invitation of Pavol Paska, Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic.
National Assembly Deputy Chairperson Ekaterina Mihailova, Environment and Water Committee Chairman Georgi Bojinov, Energy Committee Chairman Ramadan Atalai and MP Darinka Stancheva were on the delegation.

On the first day of the visit, Pirinksi held talks with National Council Speaker Pavol Paska, Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic and Deputy Prime Minister Dusan Caplovic.

The two sides discussed bilateral cooperation, the interaction between the two countries within the EU and steps to overcome the consequences of the global crisis. Georgi Pirinski spoke of the significanse of a common bilateral and multilateral approach to the laying out of a new EU energy strategy, which will give priority to the development of nuclear energy and common standards on national economy and energy policy for all EU member states.

Georgi Pirinski said that bilateral economic cooperation could be developed further through intensified contacts between the ministries of economy and energy, trade and information technology organizations. He called on Slovak businesses to invest in infrastructure projects in Bulgaria.

On the second day of the visit, the Bulgarian delegation met with the committees on the European affairs and Economic policy in the Slovak National House. Later in the day, delegates visited the Bulgarian school and met with the Bulgarian community in Slovakia.