Bulgaria will spend 161 million euro on tightening its border controls over the next two years in order to stay on schedule and join the Schengen zone in 2011, Interior Minister Roumen Petkov said on February 1, as quoted by Focus news agency.

Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the European Union in January 2007, are tentatively scheduled to join the Schengen agreement area in March 2011. Although that is an ambitious target, Bulgaria can meet it, Petkov said.

The Government has already invested 77 million euro in securing its borders, but needs to further tighten controls on borders with Turkey, Serbia and Macedonia, which would become borders of the Schengen zone when it joins the agreement.

Bulgaria needs to bring its border guards and check-points up to EU standards, an area where there is still work to be done, Bulgaria's EU Affairs Minister Gergana Grancharova said at a news conference on Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen zone, as quoted by Focus news agency.

It would also have to change consular procedures and train its personnel, to ensure a smooth transition, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Milen Keremedchiev told the same news conference, as quoted by Focus news agency.