First visit of NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen to Bulgaria

published on 5/19/10 11:41 AM

Photo: BGNES

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will pay his first visit to Bulgaria on May 20. Meetings with President Georgi Parvanov and PM Boyko Borissov are scheduled, as well as with Foreign and Defense Ministers Nikolay Mladenov and Anyu Angelov. Some of the subjects that will be discussed were announced before the meetings.
The talks obviously will concern the discussions of NATO’s new strategic conception. A report was given to Mr. Rasmussen three days before the visit that presented the idea that the anti-missile defense system, proposed by the USA should be a NATO mission with the participation of all member-states. A final decision on the matter is to be taken at the NATO summit in November, but as a person Mr. Rasmussen supports it even now.
Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov declared in the beginning of April that this state should be active as far as issues of the creation of anti-missile defense system are concerned. Certain negotiations have not taken place yet, but Bulgaria may accept on its territory elements of the future anti-missile system. Defense Minister Anyu Angelov has already announced that this state will demand from NATO Secretary General that the discussions on the matter to be speeded up.
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov insisted during his USA visit at the end of April that all issues related to the European security should be discussed with the participation of Moscow. According to him the Russians should know that the anti-missile shield deployment in Europe does not threaten them, but those who would endanger peace. This side of the Bulgarian position is expected to be accentuated during the forthcoming visit of NATO Secretary General too.
Sofia would also like to discuss during the visit the Bulgarian role in NATO’s missions and operations, especially the one in Afghanistan. It will also talk about the necessity of development of a plan for action in the Southeastern NATO wing so that it can base its own defense strategy on it. Poland and the Baltic countries already have such plans. The discussion is quite up-to-date, as far as the new redundancy intentions in the defense sphere due to the crisis are concerned.
NATO Secretary General will probably be asked about the support of the so-called Atlantic solidarity, as far as the Western Balkans countries are concerned. Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov said at the recent informal meeting of his NATO counterparts that the working facilities for stimulating of constructive processes in the region were still not enough. Then during his Balkan tour some 10 days ago Minister Mladenov assured his colleagues that being a simultaneous member of EU and NATO Bulgaria would start its new policy for the support of the regional options for membership in both organizations.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev

По публикацията работи: Stoimen Pavlov

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First visit of NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen to Bulgaria

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