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PM Tudose participated in the Serbia-Bulgaria-Greece-Romania quadrilateral meeting
Prime Minister Mihai Tudose participated on Friday and Saturday, in Belgrade, in the Serbia-Bulgaria-Greece-Romania quadrilateral meeting, the Government informs.
Among the main topics of the upcoming forum were joint infrastructure projects - transport and energy. The main driver of their implementation is Athens, which proposed the construction of a high-speed rail link connecting the Bulgarian ports of the Black Sea and the Danube Russe, Varna and Burgas with the Greek ports on the Aegean Sea, Kavala and Alexandroupoli.
Serbia and Romania will be part of this initiative, with the main goal being the transport links between Bulgaria and Greece with the Central European countries. The Greek proposal, which was named sea2sea , was also known by the European Commission. This happened during the visit of Prime Minister Borisov to Brussels, where he had talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, novinite.com informs.
Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic hosted a dinner on Friday from 20:00 local time in honor of the Romanian PM Mihai Tudose, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov and Greek PM Alexis Tsipras.
According to the agenda, Prime Minister Mihai Tudose attended on Saturday the Romanian-Bulgaria-Serbia-Greece quadrilateral reunion, which took place at the headquarters of the Serbian Presidency. The guests were welcomed by President Aleksandar Vucic.
After a meeting from 11:00, President Vucic and the Romanian, Bulgarian and Greek prime ministers held a joint press conference.
According to sofiaglobe.com, prosperity and stability in the region was named as one of the goals the four Balkan leaders were striving for. The entire region, including Serbia, needs to be included in the European Union, according to the quartet.
Head of the Sofia government Boyko Borisov said that the projects discussed, which refer among others to transport corridors 8 and 10, are no reason of dispute with anyone.
At the same time, they prove to the European Union that the Western Balkans do not just geographically belong to the European Union, but that we are an immutable part of the European idea. And that all of us (...) together must prove wisdom and that we have learned our lessons of history. (...) What we all want is interconnectivity, infrastructure, we do not want too high roaming fees among our countries and, last but not least, we want to have a modern infrastructure and that we are able to provide an internet worthy of next century. ... Now is the time to accomplish this connectivity ... These are extremely pragmatic elements and we can have the chance to receive financial support, Borisov said.
The Bulgarian PM mentioned that next year Sofia will host a new meeting in the "16 + 1" format that will discuss infrastructure projects.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic pointed out that four-format meetings represent the expression of the continued cooperation among Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.
We had a first quadrilateral meeting in Bulgaria in Varna (...) and discussed multiple concrete subjects and the result of our political discussions is that we had a continuous rise in trade relations, as figures also prove it, they look good. Serbia has growing trade exchanges with both Romania and Bulgaria, but also with Greece, and we expect trade exchanges among these four nations to reach next year 3.5 billion euro. Depending on specific conditions, the rise can actually range from 6.1 pct to even 20.2 pct. I hope we have a higher success and that these political understandings will set in place a climate that allows all countries to better and closer cooperate to the benefit of all, for jobs and for bringing more money into our citizens' pockets, the Serbian President said.
“Serbian integration can happen soon”, Tudose stated. “A modern infrastructure, transport and digital environment, and we, the three member states, will help facilitate the European path of Serbia.”
Tsirpas suggested, the EU should “soon correct a mistake from the past which is rooted in its approach to the Balkans”. Serbia could no longer stay outside of the European family, the Greek Prime Minister said. “That is exactly the symbolism of our meetings and it is the message we want to send to Brussels.”
Joint energy projects are one of the areas the four leaders intend to intensify cooperation on. The same applies to rail and other transport connections between their countries. A memorandum on roaming charges between Bulgaria and Serbia was already signed.
The next Quadrilateral Summit, in March, will take place within the framework of the Bulgarian EU Presidency.
The visit to Belgrade ended on Saturday with a working breakfast offered by the President of the Republic of Serbia.