During their meeting on Monday, Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolay Nenchev and his Croatian counterpart Josip Buljevic agreed to consolidate the regional and transborder cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting was part of Nenchev's two-day official visit to Croatia which is continuing on Tuesday.

The Bulgarian defence minister is convinced that the meeting will give new impetus to extending the contacts between the two countries and deepening their military cooperation.

According to him, the countries have established good level of cooperation, which is based on deep historical traditions.

Nenchev identified Croatia as being an important and perspective partner of Bulgaria in the framework of both the EU and NATO.

In his words, Bulgaria is in favour of keeping the dynamic of the political dialogue between the two countries and further enriching it.

The two defence minsiters discussed the common interests and similar stances of Bulgaria and Croatia as members of both the EU and NATO, with the focus being on the security at the EU's borders and tackling the refugee and migrant pressure.

The two ministers agreed that stability and security in southeastern Europe should be viewed in a wider Euro-Atlantic context, which requires continuation of the processes of integration and cooperation between the countries from the region within the framework of European and Euro-Atlantic structures.

Nenchev informed Buljevic of the current projects for modernisation of the Bulgarian army and presented the options for joint equipment on the territory of the country.

The two ministers also shared their expectations for the forthcoming NATO summit which is scheduled to take place in Warsaw in July.