During his visit to Bulgaria, ICMPD's Director General Michael Spindelegger met with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and spoke at the parliament.
Bulgaria’s Prime Minister and the ICMPD Director General discussed the current migration crisis and the need for multilateral dialogue as a basis for coherent responses during their bilateral meeting on 9 February. Prime Minister Borisov expressed his appreciation of the level of cooperation between Bulgaria and ICMPD and acknowledged the potential for further deepening this relationship.
Mr Michael Spindelegger presented his plans to strengthen ICMPD’s capacities to act as a platform for dialogue and mediation on migration – a forum for discussion, listening to everyone’s concerns and proposing solutions. Furthermore he will strengthen ICMPD’s work as a think tank that provides independent research.
ICMPD Director General also visited the Bulgarian Parliament. As a panelist at the Conference of the Chairpersons of the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committees of the Council of Europe Member States, he spoke about the need to keep the right balance between internal and foreign policy as a way to cope with the current migration challenges in Europe.
Bulgaria is a member state of ICMPD and joined the organisation in 2003. Amongst others, ICMPD has supported Bulgaria in the area of legal migration and the fight against trafficking in human beings.