Second Bulgarian-Hellenic High Level Cooperation Council

SECOND BULGARIAN-HELLENIC HIGH LEVEL COOPERATION COUNCIL

JOINT DECLARATION

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria, Mr. Boyko Borissov and the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Antonis Samaras at the close of the Second Meeting of the Bulgarian-Hellenic High Level Cooperation Council, held in Athens on 17th December 2012, and attended from the Bulgarian side by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nickolay Mladenov, the Minister of Defense, Mr. Anyu Angelov, the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Mrs. Lilyana Pavlova, the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Mr. Ivaylo Moskovski, the Minister of Education, Youth and Sciences, Mr. Sergei Ignatov, the Minister of Physical Education and Sport, Mr. Svilen Neykov, the Minister of Culture, Mr. Vezdhi Rashidov, the Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Mr. Totyu Mladenov, the Minister of Health, Mrs. Desislava Atanasova, the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Mr. Miroslav Naydenov, the Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism, Mrs. Evgenia Haritonova and from the Greek side by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dimitris L. Avramopoulos, the Minister of National Defence, Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos, the Minister of Interior, Mr. Evripidis Stylianidis, the Minister of Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, Mr. Kostas Hatzidakis, the Minister of Education and Religion, Culture and Sport, Mr. Constantine Arvanitopoulos, the Minister of Labour, Social Security and Welfare, Mr. Ioannis Vroutsis, the Minister of Health, Mr. Andreas Lykourentzos, the Minister of Rural Development and Food, Prof. Athanassios S. Tsaftaris, the Alternate Minister of Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, Mr. Stavros Kalogiannis, the Alternate Minister of Education and Religion, Culture and Sport, Mr. Kostas Tzavaras, the Deputy Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Mr. Asimakis Papageorgiou, the Deputy Minister of Education and Religion, Culture and Sport, Mr. Giannis Ioannidis, the Deputy Minister of State and Government Spokesman Simos Kedikoglou.

• Bearing in mind that the Republic of Bulgaria and the Hellenic Republic have established a strategic partnership on major areas of their bilateral cooperation;
• Reaffirming the excellent bilateral relations and underlining the strong ties of friendship, solidarity and cooperation connecting our two peoples;

• Expressing our commitment to the objectives and principles set out by the 2006 Declaration of Friendship, Good Neighbourliness and Cooperation and the 1992 Agreement on Friendship, Good Neighbourliness, Cooperation and Security, signed between our two countries;
• Underscoring that the First Bulgarian-Hellenic High Level Cooperation Council, held in Sofia on 27th July 2010, was key in establishing our bilateral strategic cooperation and acknowledging that it produced a set of important results in all fields of our bilateral relations;

• Emphasizing that our two countries are partners and allies in the European Union and NATO and participate actively in many regional, European and Ιnternational Organizations and fora;

• Emphasizing the importance of our constructive cooperation in the sectors of defence, migration, internal security, energy, trade, transport, infrastructure, tourism, agriculture, health and culture;

• Expressing our support to the European and Euro-Atlantic perspective of all candidate, potential candidate and aspirant countries in Southeastern Europe, depending on full compliance with all the accession criteria and the conditionality as set by the EU and NATO;

• Reaffirming that regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations are essential components of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes.

We agreed to

• enhance and deepen our bilateral strategic partnership through intensified political dialogue, concerted efforts and cooperative initiatives on a series of bilateral and regional issues.

• work jointly and systematically to inject new dynamism in all areas of our multifaceted cooperation; direct our respective authorities to pursue the swift settlement of pending bilateral issues and encourage the development of communication and contact between them, in order to upgrade sectoral cooperation.

• reiterate the importance of the commitments in the Joint Declaration on Customs and Fiscal Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, adopted on July 27th 2010, with a view to foster cooperation between the customs and fiscal authorities, so as to ensure proper balance between trade facilitation, revenue collection and suppression of fraudulent practices.

• intensify implementation of the gas interconnection pipeline between Bulgaria and Greece and for second electricity interconnection between our two countries, aimed at consolidating the operational infrastructure as a prerequisite for an efficiently operating integrated energy market and improving the security of supply in the region.

• underline our commitment to take further steps towards integrating the Trans-European Transport Network in our respective territories. In the context of facilitating railway transport, we shall enhance cooperation in the operational and administrative fields of the railway sector, the first step being the elaboration of the Agreement regulating rail trans-border traffic, and examine possibilities for creating better conditions for enterprise cooperation in the rail-transport sector.

• underline the crucial role of good governance and strengthened coordination between all stakeholders for achieving the strategic objectives of OP “Cross-border cooperation Bulgaria-Greece” during the current and new Operational Programme period with a view to increase efficiency of interventions, including the implementation of projects.

• bearing in mind the economic opportunities for both sides and willing to enhance trade by reducing transport costs, give an impetus to the tourism and improve the competitiveness of the broader region, we declare our firm commitment to open the border crossing check point Makaza-Nymphea not later than the end of March 2013 while working on the other agreed BCP “Elidje - Echinos”.

• reiterate the importance of the Joint Declaration on understanding and cooperation in the field of use of water resources on the respective territories of the shared river basins between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Hellenic Republic adopted in Sofia, on 27th July 2010, express our willingness to promote our cross-border water management cooperation, on the basis of relevant agreements and EU Directives and affirm our commitment to cooperate in a coordinated way to address floods in the transboundary rivers in the respective territories of the shared river basins. In this context, we recognize the need to develop and operate an ‘early warning system’ between the two countries for shared river basins where such system currently does not exist, so that the relevant information about any critical situation is conveyed in real time.

• intensify joint actions in the control of phitosanitary and veterinary standards and requirements.

• continue coordinating our efforts, in order to ensure that the Cohesion Policy remains a priority within the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), as an important tool to create sustainable growth and regenerate the economy and accelerate catching-up processes of EU’s less developed regions. In the midst of a devastating economic crisis, we express our readiness to support the European initiatives aiming at generating growth, investments and job creation and break the vicious circle of recession, underlining in the same time the importance of strict budgetary discipline.

• stress the importance of further reinforcing our bilateral cooperation, including through the existing European and Euro-Atlantic mechanisms, in order to face new risks on a regional and global level, such as terrorism, illegal migration, cybercrime, human and drug trafficking and money laundering. We also agree to reinforce our cooperation in combating corruption and cross-border organised crime, as well as smuggling of cigarettes, liquid fuel, cargo, etc.

• reiterate our willingness to ensure the internal security of the European Union, especially through reinforcing the security of external borders. Timely accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen Area will contribute significantly to this common task and responsibility. Further strengthening of police and judicial cooperation is also of great importance. In this context the full implementation of the already signed agreements, including the Agreement on Cross-Border police cooperation, signed on 9 June 2010, will contribute significantly to this objective.

• on military cooperation both Parties highly appreciate the bilateral military relations in the spirit of our traditional friendship, mutually beneficial cooperation and partnership;

strengthen our cooperation both bilaterally and in the EU and NATO frameworks;
examine the possibility of:
- exchanging know-how in a wide spectrum of defence fields such as air- defence and maritime security,
- deepening our cooperation in the field of military education, training, communications/information, engineering and simulation, and
- increasing bilateral cooperation in the framework of wider pooling and sharing and smart defence initiatives. Both countries will explore opportunities to further develop the Female Leaders in Security and Defence Project as well as the NATO Center of Excellence in Crisis Management for Disaster Response.

• systematically exchange views on developments in the EU and NATO related to defence, with a view of taking full advantage of the collaborative opportunities offered by these organizations and contribute actively to our crisis management operations and policies. We agree to exchange appropriate information on our national defence planning, which we consider of possible mutual interest, at an early stage, so as to examine the potential for collaborative capability development solutions. We will examine the possibilities to exchange personnel, inter alia, on naval units as a first step, also with a view of examining the potential to establish a pool of naval capabilities for EU CSDP operations.

• intensify our cooperation and coordination within the European Union on Common Security and Defence Policy, alongside our bilateral defence cooperation, through regular consultations at all levels on issues of common interest, including on pooling and sharing of capabilities; cooperation and coordination on crisis response to regional emergencies is of equal importance.

• further broaden our cooperation in the fields of culture, education and science. We stress the importance of promoting cooperation between universities and research centers on projects of mutual interest, such as water management, environmental protection, alternative sources of energy and climate change.

• jointly promote good neighbourly relations, contributing to peace, stability, genuine reconciliation and modernization of the region. We condemn nationalistic rhetoric and practices and point out that the Southeastern European countries have committed themselves to following irreversibly the path of European integration and abandoning dangerous mentalities and attitudes of the past.

• reaffirm our support to the European and Euro-Atlantic perspective of all candidate, potential candidate and aspiring countries in Southeastern Europe, depending on the existing conditionality and their own merits; we emphasize that constructive regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations constitute essential components of the European and Euro-Atlantic integration processes in all their stages.

• reaffirm our belief that the EU, through the enlargement process, continues to play a decisive role for the peace, stability and prosperity in Europe as well as in those countries which aspire to become part of the EU and in that respect we will continue to cooperate closely.
• reiterate our strong commitment to the European perspective of the Western Balkan countries on the basis of the European Union values, the Stabilization and Association Process, the 2006 EU renewed consensus for enlargement and the 2003 Thessaloniki Agenda; assist candidate and potential candidate countries to make tangible progress in the reform process and establish good neighbourly relations; work to increase the EU attention and assistance to the region; promote Western Balkans’ European integration undertaking comprehensive initiatives, such as the Greek initiative “Agenda 2014” and the organization of an EU-Western Balkans Summit during the 2014 Greek EU Presidency. The 2018 Bulgarian EU Presidency also intends to work for the full realization of this bilateral and regional strategic objective.

17 Δεκεμβρίου, 2012