Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov was headed for Bosnia and Herzegovina on May 12 2010 in the latest stage of his Western Balkans roadshow, a series of visits to countries of the region to put forward Bulgaria’s willingness to assist them in their efforts towards European integration.
 
In recent days, Serbia said that it respected the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a stance that Mladenov described as a step in the right direction to improve neighbourhood relations in the Western Balkans, Bulgarian National Television reported.
 
There has been widespread concern about the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territorial integrity, with Washington and the European Union concerned by threats of secession by some of the communities making up the federation.
 
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, in stops in Sarajevo and Banja Luka, Mladenov will meet state leaders as well as participate in events including meetings with NGOs and students.
 
On May 11, Mladenov was in Kosovo, for meetings including talks with prime minister Hashim Thaci and foreign minister Skender Hyseni.
 
Bulgaria is among 22 EU states that recognise Kosovo as independent, after Kosovo’s February 2008 unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia. The 27-member EU bloc has a "status-neutral" policy on Kosovo, whose self-declared independence is rejected as illegal by Serbia.
 
In Pristina, Mladenov said that relations between Kosovo and Serbia are key to regional stability and that Bulgarian support for Kosovo is based on the belief that dialogue is an important element in this process.
 
"We have been working together with our friends in Pristina, as well as with the international community because the effectiveness of Kosovo’s institutions is of crucial importance to all the people in Kosovo," Mladenov said.
 
There were issues of a pragmatic nature, such as electricity supply, social security and provision of services for Kosovo and Serbia to discuss, he said. The EU played a major role in this but it was up to Kosovo and Serbia to take the initiative, Mladenov said.
 
Mladenov offered Kosovo Bulgaria’s co-operation in working against organised crime and corruption.
 
He said that Unesco Secretary-General Irina Bokova, formerly a Bulgarian diplomat, would work to protect the cultural heritage in Kosovo, since it belongs to all the Balkans.
 
Thaci said that Mladenov’s visit came at a crucial time for Kosovo, as the state was taking measures to fight crime and corruption, build institutions and integrate minorities.
 
The Ahtisaari plan was the best model for minorities, including the ethnic Serb minority, Thaci said.
 
Kosovo’s leaders said that they were willing to hold talks with Serbia on all matters except the question of whether Kosovo was independent.
 
Kosovo foreign minister Hyseni said that instead of redrafting boundaries, it was better to make them irrelevant through the region’s integration into the EU.

Mladenov's Western Balkans tour ends on May 14 with a visit to Tirana, Albania.