Bulgarian President in Brussels for NATO, EU Ties

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 06, 2002

Bulgarian President in Brussels for NATO, EU Ties

Bulgaria's newly elected President Georgi Parvanov was seeking support in Brussels on Tuesday during his first foreign trip for his country's bids to join NATO and the European Union (EU).

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Bulgaria's newly elected President Georgi Parvanov was seeking support in Brussels on Tuesday during his first foreign trip for his country's bids to join NATO and the European Union (EU).

Bulgaria has no chance to qualify for the first group of up to 10 candidate countries which the EU says could join in 2004, but hopes to be asked to join the NATO military alliance at its November summit in Prague.

"We would like to receive a clear signal that we will be invited (to join NATO)," Parvanov told reporters before meeting Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. He will meet NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and EU enlargement commissionerGuenter Verheugen on Wednesday.

Parvanov, who took office in January, chose Brussels for his first foreign trip to highlight the importance Sofia attaches to joining NATO and the EU during his term in office.

The EU has said that up to 10 countries -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia,Cyprus and Malta -- could conclude accession talks by the end of this year, in time to join the EU in 2004.

Bulgaria and Romania are expected to join later in the decade, although the former has improved its early membership chances by enjoying robust economic growth in 2001.

NATO, joined by Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in 1999, says it will invite at least one more country out of nine would-bemembers this year -- Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

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