BULGARIA HOSTED MEETING OF FOREIGN MINISTERS FROM EIGHT SOUTHEASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

SOFIA, Bulgaria (September 15,2007) - Bulgaria's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin hosted a meeting of the Foreign ministers of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) yesterday.

Bulgaria is rotating president of the working group until may 2008.The meeting took place in the Korona Express train, which used to belong to Tsar Boris III.The train travelled from Sofia to Plovdiv during the meeting.

Taking part in the informal meeting were Foreign ministers from Bosnia, Moldova, Albania, Montenegro, Turkey and Macedonia. Serbia, Romania and Greece participated at the level of deputy foreign ministers.

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosova (SRSG) Joachim Rucker and Southeast European Stability Pact Coordinator Erhard Buzek had also been invited to the meeting.

On the agenda were current regional issues and issues regarding the transformation process of regional co-operation, a Foreign Ministry press statement said.

The process of transformation of regional co-operation included the application of the principle of regional affiliation, the press statement said. Under this principle, countries in the region should take more responsibility, including financial responsibility, for regional co-operation within the SEECP.

Part of the process was the successful implementation of the Council for regional co-operation (CRC).

After the arrival of the train in Plovdiv, the participants received an official welcome at the city-hall where the agreement for the founding of a new secretariat for the CRC in Bosnia was signed.