The Minister of Foreign Affairs Svetlan Stoev held bilateral talks with the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhei and with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the EU and the Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain Jose Manuel Albarez Bueno. They took place in Barcelona as part of the VI Regional Forum of the Union for the Mediterranean and the EU-Southern Neighbourhood Ministerial Meeting.
Opinions were exchanged on the prospect of starting EU membership talks with the Republic of Northern Macedonia. The Bulgarian side emphasized its proactive efforts in recent months to resolve outstanding issues with Skopje, so as to guarantee the rights of citizens with Bulgarian identity and the implementation of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation of 2017. We expect clear guarantees for this from the Republic of Northern Macedonia..
Today, as part of his work program, Minister Svetlan Stoev is in Riga, where he will take part in the meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of NATO member states on November 30-December 1, 2021.
Ministers are expected to discuss in an allied format the work on the next Strategic Concept to be adopted at the NATO Summit in Madrid in 2022. Current security issues will be discussed, including in the field of arms control and non-proliferation, and Afghanistan. A joint meeting with Georgia and Ukraine is forthcoming, dedicated to current security challenges and their Euro-Atlantic perspective. The NATO ministerial meeting will include a meeting with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the partners Sweden and Finland on current developments in the Western Balkans.
