Bulgarian President Talks Business on Croatia Visit

Rosen Plevneliev (left) and Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic.

Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev began a two-day visit to Zagreb and Croatia on Tuesday, meeting President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic and Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic to discuss issues of mutual economic interest and boost ties.

Plevneliev was the first head of state to visit the Croatian capital since Grabar Kitarovic took office in February.

Both presidents emphasised the importance major projects in the energy and traffic sectors, such as the planned liquid natural gas terminal on the Croatian island of Krk, the Adriatic-Ionian pipeline and the construction of highways.

They also discussed entering the no-border Schengen zone. Croatia will officially apply to join in July; Bulgaria did so in 2010 but is still awaiting approval.

"We are acting responsibly, protecting the external border of the EU, and we have the full support of Zagreb," Plevneliev said.

He said that he regrets that Bulgaria and Romania are still waiting to enter the Schengen zone, although they are "technically better prepared than many other countries" that are already members.

Plevneliev also said that Sofia can help Zagreb by sharing experience on using EU funds, after Bulgaria had problems with this in the first two years of its EU membership.

"Today we manage these funds well, we have drastically improved the transparency and efficiency of managing the EU funds and we have something to pass on to our Croatian friends," he said, adding that Bulgaria now uses up to 80 per cent of EU funds and wants to raise that figure to 90 per cent.

Grabar Kitarovic meanwhile said that "the European and Euro-Atlantic path of all the countries of south-eastern Europe" is in the interests of both Croatia and Zagreb.

Plevneliev said that both countries...

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