Bulgaria offers defense cooperation, cautiously

Bulgaria offers defense cooperation, cautiously

On the sidelines of his four-day visit to Indonesia,
due to be completed on Monday, Bulgarian President Georgi
Parvanov shared his views about Bulgaria's transition from a
communist country into a democratic state and about defense
cooperation with Indonesia. The following is an excerpt of his
interview with The Jakarta Post's Kornelius Purba and Oei Eng
Goan.

Question: Both Bulgaria and Indonesia share some similar
experience in undertaking reform, following the fall of the
communist regime in Bulgaria and of Soeharto here. Could you
share with us your country's experience of the transition period?

Answer: There was a consensus in Bulgaria on the need to
create democratic change and to develop the country as a market
economy. As results of our efforts, although we have a number of
difficulties, we have carried out a series of transitions and, as
a result, we have now established a democracy with stable
democratic institutions, and a stable political situation and
market economy. First of all, the reforms will allow us to
complete negotiations with the European Union (EU) in 2004 and
soon afterwards to join the EU as a full member.

How about the military role there; does it remain strong as
has happened here?

I couldn't possibly comment on the affairs of a country in
which I am a guest, and on such a specific, sensitive issue. But
I can refer to the Bulgarian experience. Bulgaria undertook a
serious reform of its armed forces, introducing civil control of
the army and modernizing it, bringing it up to European
standards.

Many people in the former Soviet Union satellite countries
can no longer enjoy the privileges and benefits they used to have
under the Communist era. What is your comment?

It is possible, I would say, that a certain proportion of the
people feel some social nostalgia for the past. But it is by no
means political nostalgia -- a desire to return to the political
system of the past, at the cost of gross human rights abuse. The
vast majority of people in Bulgaria realize that no way will
there be a return to the system of the past.

They approved the new task, which needs to be followed up, in
achieving a more active development of Bulgarian production and
better redistribution of social necessities, in the name of
social justice. I believe that the state should find the
resources to assist socially vulnerable people because that is
the way for them to be properly integrated into society.

Islam is a minority religion in predominantly Christian
Bulgaria, while in Indonesia it is the other way round. As a
friend of Indonesia, what suggestions can you give to us with
regard to protecting the minority?

I am very cautious when it comes to giving advice (to a
foreign country) ... on ethnic problems Bulgaria has indeed gone
through some very difficult stages with regard to ethnic issues,
but now it is a success story, and it is based on a very
effective model for achieving coexistence between various ethnic
and religious groups. This is a successful example in Europe.

This kind of coexistence is particularly evident on a day-to-
day basis in their everyday lives, in which Christians and
Muslims help each other. The best example is the way they build
their places of worship: For instance, Muslims help Christians to
build their churches, and vice versa. On the other hand,
functionally they (Muslims) are also well represented, both in
the government and in parliament, and in the office of the
president.

Muslim parties are in the government coalition. You can find
them everywhere within the government and in key positions. In my
own delegation there is a Bulgarian mosque mufti, and the
minister of agriculture is also a Muslim.

Will the inclusion of Bulgaria into the EU benefit all?

Bulgaria has gone a long way toward integration with the EU.
We have consistently been successful in meeting EU requirements,
the political criteria, for the democratization of political
life, and certain requirements for the judicial system. The great
difficulty, however, the great obstacle, as you said, lies within
the economic arena, in adapting the Bulgarian economy to the
requirements of the EU.

But here too, we have made progress with some of the economic
chapters already. We are currently in the final stages of
harmonizing our legislation to that of the EU, which is indeed no
small task.

In 1998, Soeharto failed to follow Bulgaria's policy, which
pegs its Leva -- is that correct? currency to the U.S. dollar.
What are the merits and demerits of the currency board policy?

The currency board proved to be very effective, if implemented
a little bit too late. The introduction of the currency board
arrangement involved pegging to the German mark. It has brought
about a stabilization, both in the country and in a major
indicator, such as a steady, low inflation rate.

By and large, all macroeconomic indicators have been stable
and sustainable; the growth rate has been capped at 5 percent for
several years now, and investment has been relatively good,
considering the international economic downturn and difficulties
in the world economy. In other words, the economic indicators are
good enough to attract and guarantee foreign investment in
Bulgaria.

What results, including with the defense field, did you
achieve from your meeting with President Megawati?

I will begin by the joint declaration, which sets out the
political framework for our bilateral relations in years to come.
The agreement signed on the promotion of trade and investment is
particularly crucial for promoting trade and encouraging
investment.

Bulgaria came up with some specific offers, such as in the
field of energy production, where Bulgaria has experience. But we
also have serious problems in this area. You have rich coal
reserves that could be used for our power generation. The other
areas that were discussed were agriculture and the food industry.

And why not defense? However, I would like to emphasize here
that whatever we do in this area should be under very strict
control, in compliance with the very strict controls on arms and
trading in arms for due use, for due purposes.