The Republic of Bulgaria

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Denominations (MFARD) was created with ordinance № 23 (17th July 1879) by virtue of article 161 of the Turnovo Constitution as a central state institution intended to organise, direct, and conduct Bulgaria’s foreign policy through diplomatic agencies abroad (agencies, consulates, and legations).

Pursuant to the ordinance, the Ministry was composed of three departments – “a department for intercourse with local agencies, one for relations with foreign diplomatic agencies, and one for ecclesiastical matters.” Marko Balabanov was appointed the first Minister of Foreign Affairs and Religious Denominations.

The MFARD Structure and Service Act was adopted on 19th December 1907 (State Gazette, issue 276, 1907), according to which the following structural units were formed: Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Political Department, Archive and Library, Consular Department, Religious Denominations Department, Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, and Accounting. MFARD functioned with this structure, with certain changes made in 1918, until the adoption of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria (4th December 1947), by virtue of which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was created (MFA). The Chairman of the Presidium of the National Assembly undertook the representation of Bulgaria in international relations. The representative functions were to be carried out by the Chairman of the State Council (in accordance with the Constitution of 1971) and by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria (in accordance with the Constitution of 1991). Throughout the years since its inception, the Ministry’s structure has been based on its principal functions of organising, directing, and conducting the foreign policy of Bulgaria.

On 13th of September 2007, the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria adopted the Diplomatic Service Act, which arranges the principles, organisation, and functioning of the diplomatic service, as well as the rules for career development of the diplomatic officers.