Presidents of Serbia and Bulgaria Outline Common Ambitions, Shared Spiritual Values

The Bulgarian minority in Serbia should be a "bridge of friendship between Serbia and Bulgaria," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in Dimitrovgrad in southeast Serbia on Sunday.

"I told Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and the Bulgarians living in Serbia that they can always rely not only on friendly attitude, but are also welcome if they have any problem", Vučić said after meeting with his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev.

The President clarified that the problem with the names ending with -ova and -eva for Bulgarian women has been solved as early as December 2018. It takes only 10-15 minutes to go to the municipality and change the name in the relevant register.

He commented that it is not true that the region, which is populated with Bulgarians, is the poorest in Serbia.

"This is not the poorest region, there are many poor provinces in Serbia, but we know others in the EU that are not richer than us," Vučić said.

The two presidents unveiled a monument to St.St. Cyril and Methodius in Dimitrovgrad.

Radev called the monument a symbol of the historical ties and shared ambitions of Bulgaria and Serbia.

"The monument will spiritually connect our nations, the monument to the holy brethren, thanks to whom today we share the same spiritual space and write in the same alphabet. This is symbolic, it is important because it shows not only our historical closeness, but outlines the commonality of our ambitions", Radev said, adding that he is confident that bilateral trade will improve in 2021.

The Bulgarian president stressed that his Serbian colleague had fulfilled his promises from three years ago. The government in Belgrade has increased the funding of the Bulgarian-languagemedia and have tried to implement the Bulgarian recommendations.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!