Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov met on March 31 2010 with the ambassadors of countries from South Eastern Europe, emphasising to them that the main foreign policy priorities of the Government are the redefinition and strengthening of its Balkan policy.
 
The meeting was attended by the ambassadors of Turkey, Albania, Greece, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Romania, Cyprus, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said.
 
Mladenov told the envoys that the basis for his decision to initiate the meeting was his conviction that the countries were Bulgaria’s "friends and neighbours in Europe".
 
Bulgaria’s foreign policy was to seek the resolution of bilateral and regional issues facing the countries of the Balkans.
 
Among these, Mladenov drew attention to organised crime, and the need to improve the image of the Balkans in the eyes of the world.
 
He said that he intended to go on a regional tour of the Balkans in May 20, saying that he believed that this was the best way to get a better understanding of the problems and the most effective ways to solve them.
 
The main objective of the tour was for Bulgaria to play the role of a constructive partner in the region. Regarding the country’s neighbours in the Western Balkans, the visits would enable the sharing of lessons learned by Bulgaria on the road to Euro-Atlantic integration, Mladenov said.
 
He said that there was a need for policy co-ordination in the energy sector to improve the security of supply.
 
The Foreign Ministry statement said that Mladenov briefed the ambassadors on the domestic political situation in Bulgaria and the priorities of the Government regarding the economy in the context of a global crisis, as well as the fight against organised crime and corruption in the light of the Co-operation and Verification Mechanism – the system put in place by the EU when Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007 to bring it up to the bloc’s standards in justice and home affairs.
 
According to the Foreign Ministry, the ambassadors welcomed Mladenov’s initiative to begin this kind of dialogue in the format of a regional meeting, and said that they were ready for dialogue and co-operation on economic issues.