Eurasia Press & News
The Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin is in Pretoria Friday to meet his South African counterpart, the Darik radio reports.
The main topics on Kalfin’s agenda are collaboration in the justice sector and extradition of criminals, intensifying business relations and securing support for the nomination of Bulgaria’s Ambassador to France and permanent UNESCO representative, Irina Bokova, to become Director General of UNESCO.
The work on Bulgarian projects for agreements for legal assistance for criminal cases, extradition, collaboration in civil cases, and exchange of convicted criminals has been halted in the last 6 years due to the position of the Republic of South Africa that there was no legal basis to conclude such agreements. The lack of legal agreements is the reason why the notorious Bulgarian Chair of the Managing Board of the “Agriculture and Industrial” bank Veska Medzhidieva, accused of embezzlement of USD 4,5 M, is living in South Africa despite being convicted by the Sofia City Court.
Because of the globalization of crime and illegal drug trafficking, the focus of the Bulgarian Foreign Minister during his trip in Africa is collaboration in the justice system sector between Bulgaria and African countries.
While in Pretoria, Kalfin is also meeting with officials from the South African Economy Ministry to intensify trade relations between both countries. A trade agreement and an agreement to avoid double taxation have been signed respectively in 2002 and 2004, but the trade exchange between Bulgaria and South Africa is under USD 50 M per year.
The Republic of South Africa is the most developed country on the continent and ranks 25th in the world.
Friday evening, Kalfin will meet with the Bulgarian immigrant community in South Africa. The meeting will be held at the Bulgarian Embassy in Pretoria. An estimated 20,000 Bulgarians live in South Africa.
