Extraordinary meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on the situation in Idlib and migration pressure at the EU's external borders took place in Zagreb on March 6, Bulgaria’s representative in the meeting was Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Judicial Reform and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, BNT reported.

The ministers adopted a joint statement by the 27 member states expressing full solidarity with Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus and readiness for further support for protection of the Union's external borders. The top EU diplomats stressed the importance of continuing to implement the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016. The Union will continue to support Turkey for the huge number of refugees it has hosted on its territory and expects Turkey to continue to keep its commitments.

Ministers stressed the need to urgently de-escalate the Idlib conflict, establish a sustainable ceasefire and resume the political process under the auspices of the UN and in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254.

The ministers noted the results of yesterday's meeting in Moscow between the Presidents of Russia and Turkey and the agreed de-escalation measures in Syria.

A new conference on Syria is scheduled to be convened, and the EC is urgently releasing 60m euros to tackle the humanitarian crisis in Idlib and the border areas with Turkey.

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