The Bled agreement (also referred to as the "Tito–Dimitrov treaty") was an agreement signed on the 1 August 1947 in

Bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper C ...

PR Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...

FPR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

. It was signed by

Georgi Dimitrov Georgi Dimitrov Mihaylov (; bg, Гео̀рги Димитро̀в Миха̀йлов), also known as Georgiy Mihaylovich Dimitrov (russian: Гео́ргий Миха́йлович Дими́тров; 18 June 1882 – 2 July 1949), was a Bulgarian ...

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

leader, and

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

, Yugoslav leader, which paved the way for future unification between the states in a new

Balkan Federative Republic The Balkan Federation project was a left-wing political movement to create a country in the Balkans by combining Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. The concept of a Balkan federation emerged in the late 19th century from ...

. It also foresaw the unification of

Vardar Macedonia Vardar Macedonia ( Macedonian and sr, Вардарска Македонија, ''Vardarska Makedonija'') was the name given to the territory of the Kingdom of Serbia (1912–1918) and Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) roughly corresponding to t ...

and

Pirin Macedonia Pirin Macedonia or Bulgarian Macedonia ( bg, Пиринска Македония; Българска Македония) (''Pirinska Makedoniya or Bulgarska Makedoniya'') is the third-biggest part of the geographical region Macedonia located on t ...

and the return of

Western Outlands The Western (Bulgarian) Outlands () is a term used by Bulgarians to describe several regions located in southeastern Serbia. The territories in question were ceded by Bulgaria to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1920 as a result ...

to Bulgaria. The agreement abolished

visas Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

and allowed for a

customs union A customs union is generally defined as a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff.GATTArticle 24 s. 8 (a) Customs unions are established through trade pacts where the participant countries set up ...

. It was also the first time that

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

recognized ethnic Macedonians and the

Macedonian language Macedonian (; , , ) is an Eastern South Slavic language. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of a larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken as a first language by around two million ...

. These agreements mark the mutual aspirations and efforts to develop new relations between the two countries. They agreed that the government will take over NR Bulgaria to ensure the rights of ethnic Macedonians in Pirin Macedonia (now Blagoevgrad Province) in free national economic and cultural development. The Bled agreement was accepted with the Treaty on Friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance between Yugoslavia and the People's Republic of Bulgaria, signed and published in Evksinograd. The treaty contains: several of the Agreement on economic cooperation, on customs facilitation, agreement for preparation of a customs union, the facilitation of border crossings, border crossing on the border of population and of the citizenship between the two countries. The Yugoslav Government waived $25 million in war damages owed by Bulgaria. The policies resulting from the agreement were reversed after the

Tito–Stalin split The Tito–Stalin split or the Yugoslav–Soviet split was the culmination of a conflict between the political leaderships of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, under Josip Broz Tito and Joseph Stalin, respectively, in the years following World W ...

in June 1948, when Bulgaria, not wanting to be a seventh republic of Yugoslavia as Tito imagined and being tied to the interests of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, took a stance against Yugoslavia. When the

Cominform The Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties (), commonly known as Cominform (), was a co-ordination body of Marxist-Leninist communist parties in Europe during the early Cold War that was formed in part as a replacement of the ...

campaign against Yugoslavia severed the Yugoslav Communist party leadership, the government of the People's Republic of Bulgaria on 1 October 1949 deleted the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance of Bled with all agreements. A recently declassified CIA document from November 1948 outlines the tensions between the two countries and the outlook of the people of Yugoslav Macedonia.CIA Information report, November 194
"YUGOSLAV-BULGARIAN TENSION IN THE YUGOSLAV-MACEDONIA REGION"
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Notes

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References

* Stavrianos, L. (1964) ''Balkan Federation: A History of the Movement Toward Balkan Unity in Modern Times''. (Hamden, CT: Archon Books). 1947 in Yugoslavia Contemporary history of Slovenia 1947 in Bulgaria Treaties concluded in 1947 Treaties of the People's Republic of Bulgaria Treaties of Yugoslavia

Agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting o ...

Yugoslav Macedonia Modern history of the Blagoevgrad Province Bulgaria–Yugoslavia relations August 1947 events in Europe