12-13 March 2009

A delegation from the National Assembly, headed by Georgi Pirinski is paying an official visit to Turkey on 13-14 March 2009. The visit is taking place at the invitation of Turkey Grand National Assembly’s Speaker Koksal Toptan. Bulgaria-Turkey friendship group chair Atanas Merdzhanov is among the members of the Bulgarian delegation.

The official meeting between the two parliamentary speakers was held on 12 March 2009.The delegation was received by the President of the Republic of Turkey Abdullah Gul.

During the talks the parties gave high evaluation to the development of the bilateral relations proven by the regular high level contacts. It was noticed that the parliaments of Bulgaria and Turkey play a key role in this respect. Chairman Pirinski expressed the wish of the Bulgarian side to accelerate relations between the two assemblies’ committees and friendship groups.

Both sides shared their satisfaction with the dynamic development of the trade and business relations. The Speaker of the Bulgarian parliament noticed that further investment opportunities were existing that should be encouraged.

They discussed the measures taken by Bulgaria and Turkey to overcome the global financial crisis.

The two sides also emphasized the need to speed up the regional co-operation, particularly in the fields of energy, transport and infrastructure and expressed support for the gas pipeline project “Nabuko” and the participation of Turkey in the upcoming energy summit, to be held in Bulgaria.

The parties expressed satisfaction with the agreements reached in regards to some of the unsolved issues between the two countries such as the reparations for the refugees from East Tracia.

National Assembly Chairman laid wreath on the Ataturk’s Mausoleum.

The Bulgarian delegation is scheduled to visit the city of Izmir and have meetings with the Mayor Mustafa Karach and with leaders of the Bulgarian emigrant community.