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.