For Bulgaria, membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is a strategic priority. This was stated by President Rumen Radev after a meeting at “Dondukov” 2 with the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Matthias Korman. The meeting took place only a few months after our country received the road map adopted by the OECD Council for the process of Bulgaria’s accession to the Organization. This was announced by the press office of the head of state.
Membership in the OECD will give Bulgaria the opportunity to carry out important reforms that will contribute to the modernization of the country and the creation of a better business climate, to increase the confidence of investors, accelerated economic growth and the creation of new jobs, stressed President Radev. In his words, joining the Organization will also create a new working environment for the institutions in Bulgaria and will stimulate the achievement of higher standards, compliance with the rule of law and effective work of the justice system.
The head of state congratulated the caretaker government for the hard work and good cooperation with the OECD experts, thanks to which the initial memorandum on joining the OECD was finalized. The document is yet to be approved by the Council of Ministers and sent to the Organization. “The real part of the accession talks is about to begin – in-depth technical reviews that will help identify areas and measures to improve our legislation, policies and practices,” President Radev also pointed out.
OECD Secretary General Matthias Korman welcomed Bulgaria‘s efforts in the accession process and pointed out that the cooperation with our country is positive and constructive. Korman expressed confidence that membership in the Organization can contribute to the process of carrying out important reforms in Bulgaria.
Matthias Korman was in Sofia to participate in the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the member states of the Central European Initiative (CEI), which Bulgaria chairs this year. The event lasted from November 6 to 7, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced.
The Central European Initiative, established on November 11, 1989, is one of the oldest and most established intergovernmental forums for regional cooperation. It currently has 16 member states – nine countries from the European Union – Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, five from the Western Balkans – Montenegro, Serbia, the Republic of North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina , and two from the Eastern Partnership – Moldova, Ukraine. The rights of Belarus have been suspended, according to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Bulgaria has been a full member of the Initiative since June 1, 1996, and on January 1 of this year took over the CEI presidency for the second time.
The priorities of the presidency are the economic and social recovery from the pandemic and from the consequences of the war against Ukraine; improving transport connectivity; young man; development of the local dimension of CEI.
