Sofia, 4 April 2025 (MIA) — President Gordana Siljanovska Davkova met Friday with her Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev as part of the Aqaba Process for the Balkans III in Sofia. Their meeting focused on the Kochani tragedy but they also discussed unblocking the country's European integration path and concluded they need to meet more often, she said.

According to MIA’s reporter in Sofia, President Siljanovska Davkova gave a statement to the Macedonian and the Bulgarian press praising President Radev for his prompt response following the fire. She said he had called her the morning after the tragedy and offered any help that was necessary. 

She also praised the Serbian, Albanian and other regional leaders for offering their help in the aftermath.

"How nice it is, in such a terrible world, to encounter a surge of solidarity and kindness, everyone offering you their help. Then you see the problems you have with each other through the prism that we do not represent ourselves, but the citizens," Siljanovska Davkova said.

She also told the press she had visited the injured Macedonian citizens receiving medical care in Pirogov Hospital in Sofia.

"If Bulgarian citizens in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna were waiting in lines to donate blood to help them, I had a duty to first visit the injured in hospital," she said. 

"I have no words for the health minister who welcomed me, and for the director of the hospital and for the professor who was there. I also met Macedonian physicians who work in the hospital," she said. 

"I also had the opportunity to see the parents. The good news is that there is great progress," she added, noting that the patients' recovery was the main focus of her meeting with Radev. 

She also pointed out that the Kochani tragedy brought people together and that the solidarity would not be forgotten.

Siljanovska Davkova also discussed with Radev the countries' bilateral issue.

"We talked about the Aqaba process but also about our political problem. This is not the time or place, but we concluded that we need to meet much more often, both as ministers and presidents," she said, adding that "Bulgarian progress is also ours, regional progress is also ours." 

The president voiced her expectation that progress should be made in this regard.

"Of course, compromises are possible. I expect us to take a step forward," she told the press.

Earlier Friday, Siljanovska Davkova attended a meeting of heads of state and government of the Aqaba Process for the Balkans III in Sofia, at the invitation of the Bulgarian president together with Abdullah II, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Her previous meeting with Radev was on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, last November. mr/