National Assembly President Tsetska Tsacheva met with the Vice -Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro, Igor Luksic. Mr. Luksic is on a two-day official visit to Bulgaria.

At the meeting the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ms Tsetska Tsacheva, noted that the relations between the two countries have been traditionally close and there were no unresolved matters. Tsetska Tsacheva said last year the President and the Premier of Montenegro have paid a visit to Bulgaria and invited the Speaker of Montenegro’s parliament to pay an official visit to Bulgaria.

“We have good contacts with our colleagues from Montenegro in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Process for Cooperation in South-East Europe, which is chaired currently by Bulgaria”, underscored Tsetska Tsacheva. “We count on Montenegro’s support of Bulgaria’s candidacy to host the Permanent Secretariat of SEECP in Sofia. She said the capital city of Bulgaria had gained experience while accommodating the Regional Secretariat of SEECP, and had also the advantage of being a member of the European Union and NATO, had good contacts with the European Parliament and had opportunities for closer cooperation with the EU Foreign Affairs Committee.

The chair of Bulgarian parliament continued saying Bulgaria was supporting the Montenegro’s policy towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration and has voted a declaration in regards to the invitation received by Montenegro for NATO membership in December 2015. The declaration, she added, expressed support for Montenegro’s NATO membership with the view that this would contribute to heighten the security not only of Europe, but on the Balkans.

On his part Igor Luksic noted that last year has been dynamic in the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Montenegro. He said this was his first visit abroad in 2016, proving the importance paid on the relations with Bulgaria. He added the exchange of opinions between the heads of the parliaments of the two countries was still not sufficient.
 
The Vice-Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro, Igor Luksic, has thanked Bulgaria for its consistent support in the negotiations for EU membership and expressed hope the National Assembly of Bulgaria would be among the first to ratify the Membership Agreement, after its signing. “We still have a lot of work to do and would be grateful to profit from the experience of Bulgaria”, he continued.

The year 2016 marks the 120th anniversary since the establishment of the diplomatic relations between the two countries and 10 years since their renewal. Mr. Igor Luksic further said a presentation of the joint edition of the archives of Montenegro and Bulgaria entitled: “The relations between Bulgaria and Montenegro in 1878-1913”, was forthcoming.