Bulgaria, Greece to deepen defense cooperation to protect EU: ministers

Bulgarian Defense Minister Nikolay Nenchev and his Greek counterpart Panos Kammenos here on Tuesday said their countries would further deepen defense cooperation in order to protect the European Union .

Bulgaria and Greece are the strong link between the West and the East amid recent geopolitical issues such as terrorism, the developments in the Middle East, North Africa and the Black Sea, as well as the events in Turkey, Kammenos told reporters after a bilateral meeting.

"Our close cooperation will contribute to the development and consolidation of a stable Europe," Kammenos said.

Bilateral cooperation in dealing with migration problem is very important, he said.

It is obvious that the refugees do not want to stay in Bulgaria and Greece, therefore the EU and NATO should be aware that the support to the two countries is very important for the other EU and NATO countries, Kammenos said.

Nenchev said in turn that the two countries would further intensify the exchanges of military and intelligence information.

The two countries also agreed that their special forces would conduct a joint exercise at the Bulgarian-Greek border "through which we will demonstrate unity and strength," Nenchev added. Endit