Bulgaria's interior minister is expected to provide details about a working group decision to accept one or two detainees from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in response to Washington request to house prisoners.

“The final decision will be taken by an intergovernmental working group with representatives from all institutions involved,” Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said in the middle of December after the joint meeting of the foreign policy and interior security parliamentary commissions.

The minister stressed that a positive response to the US request is natural, given the strong strategic partnership between the two countries.

Guantanamo prisoners will enjoy a humanitarian status in Bulgaria, which means they will not be put behind bars, but will be treated as refugees.

Bulgaria's prime minister said last month that the country could accept one prisoner from Guantanamo following calls from Washington to take in detainees from the US prison in Cuba. Boyko Borisov told reporters that taking in an inmate would be a strong gesture of cooperation between Europe and the US.

Bulgarian officials however have cautioned that Bulgaria's participation would be small, and people who might pose a threat to national security would be not accepted.

The transfer of prisoners is part of a drive by US President Barack Obama to close the widely criticized jail set up by his predecessor, George Bush, to house suspected militants captured abroad.

Obama had promised to shut down the facility within a year of taking office but that deadline passed this month and 192 detainees remain. Fewer than 50 have left Cuba since Obama took office.

President Barack Obama should be able to close the US prison in Guantanamo Bay during his first term, despite missing his original deadline, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Wednesday.

Daniel Fried said Washington was in talks with several governments about hosting more detainees from the military prison in Cuba.