Germany is ready to help Bulgaria implement the necessary reforms, according to Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Speaking after a meeting in Sofia with his Bulgarian counterpart Daniel Mitov, Steinmeier suggested that Bulgaria had to work to improve the investment climate.

“Bulgaria and Germany need each other in Europe. We need cooperation that goes beyond the level of senior officials and includes ordinary people,” Steinmeier said, as cited by the BGNES news agency.

Germany’s Foreign Minister noted that over 50 000 Bulgarians were living and working in Germany and around 5000 Bulgarian students were being trained at educational facilities in Germany and over 5000 German companies were functioning in Bulgaria, stressing that all of this contributed to bilateral cooperation.

Putting special emphasis on the problem of illegal immigration, he said that the issue was essential to the two countries as Bulgaria was an external border of the EU, while Germany was very attractive to immigrants due to its high living standards.

Mitov declared in his statement after Tuesday’s meeting that Bulgaria would be assisted by Germany in its Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2018.

Mitov and Steinmeier exchanged views on topics such as the current situation in the Middle East and the crisis in Ukraine.
The two foreign ministers expressed hopes that the Minsk agreements would survive and that the terms of the Ukraine peace deal would be observed.

The two foreign ministers underscored the role of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in helping to bring about lasting peace in eastern Ukraine so as to prevent the number of victims of the conflict from growing.

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