Sofia, August 23 (BTA) - French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Bulgaria at the joint invitation of President Rumen Radev and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, the President's press secretariat and the government information service said Wednesday. Radev and Borissov will meet with Macron at Euxinograd Palace near Varna on August 25.

The French President will be accompanied by his wife Brigitte Macron.

The sides will discuss the prospects for developing Bulgarian-French relations, economic, investment and cultural cooperation, the security of the EU's external borders, and ideas for the future of Europe. The priorities set in the programme of Bulgaria's EU Council Presidency, the European perspective of the Western Balkans, and Bulgaria's accession to Schengen and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will also be high on the agenda.

After the welcoming ceremony in front of Euxinograd Palace at 10 a.m., there will be a photo-op with the two presidents and their wives.

Afterwards Radev and Macron will hold a one-to-one meeting and will lead talks between their delegations.

At 11:15 a.m. the two presidents will give a joint news conference.

Borissov and Macron will hold a one-to-one meeting at 11:35 a.m., followed by plenary talks. The Bulgarian participants are Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva, Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Krassimir Karakachanov and Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov.

Borissov and Macron are scheduled to give a news conference at 12:45 p.m.

In the afternoon Borissov and Macron will visit the navigation simulators centre of the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy of Varna.