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Ekaterina Zaharieva: We Cannot Be Successful Without Our Best Ambassadors, the Bulgarian Expatriates

05 November 2018 News

Bulgaria achieved much during the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU and I would very much like that this self-confidence would remain unchanged. We are working to serve the people and we want them to know that. We cannot succeed in this complicated world with its tough international agenda without our best ambassadors, the Bulgarians who live abroad, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva said at a meeting with the Bulgarian community in Washington, DC.


Minister Zaharieva went on to add that six months ago our country had demonstrated that it was not only capable of choosing a topic that is of great significance to the EU and very important to the United States but also of making it a priority for the entire EU. “We not only signed a treaty with the Republic of Macedonia, something we had been trying to do for 12 years, but I think this treaty served as an impetus and encouraged efforts to tackle the other difficult issues between the Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Greece. We demonstrated that as a new Member State of the EU and as a country that has actually been building its democracy for just 27 years, we are not merely focused on our own problems but can also adopt a topic that is important to Bulgaria and to make it important for the remaining 27 countries,” our top diplomat said.


Deputy Prime Minister Zaharieva emphasized that the Bulgarian Government finds it important to work for making it possible for the Bulgarians living abroad to return home. “I know that there is a lot we have to do. What is of interest to our compatriots overseas as an incentive to return are opportunities to make a career and to work, the environment in which they will live, and their trust in the institutions and the state. They should feel well in a secure and stable environment in a country in which they feel that they live fairly and receive justice,” Minister Zaharieva added. She pointed out that in 2017, for the first time ever, the number of people leaving the country was equal to the number of people returning. “This means that we are headed in the right direction,” the Deputy Prime Minister added. “We are doing all we can to provide to our compatriots abroad full information about the opportunities at home. We will try to provide in our missions abroad, with the help of the business community, the entire possible information to those who want to return,” Ekaterina Zaharieva said.


In the discussion that followed her address the Bulgarians living in Washington showed a strong interest in the development of Bulgarian foreign policy. Our compatriots told Minister Zaharieva that the success of the Bulgarian Presidency was heard of in the United States and that they are proud of our country’s achievements. Representatives of the Bulgarian community asked many questions about important and topical issues such as Brexit, migration, retaining the priority of the European perspective of the Western Balkans, etc.

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