Ekaterina Zaharieva: The NATO enlargement must not stop
11 April 2019 News
This is what Ekaterina Zaharieva, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated at the International Conference on ‘15 years Bulgaria in NATO; The 70 year Alliance and Its Future’, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Diplomatic Institute under the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria.
Ekaterina Zaharieva underscored the ole of NATO not just as a defensive alliance but also as an alliance of nations sharing the same democratic values. ‘While sometimes we may have our differences, as long as we share and continue to share the same values, the is no way this alliance can be torn apart,’ said the Foreign Minister. She went on to point out that in the 70 years since the alliance was founded, there have been no acts of war in the territory of any of the allied countries. ‘For 70 years this alliance has managed to preserve the underlying democratic values of the North Atlantic Treaty. Not only that: the Alliance maintains partnerships with 40 countries with which it pursues joint missions and, most importantly, assists those countries on the road to reform, ‘said Ekaterina Zaharieva.
The Deputy Prime Minister stressed that Bulgaria has been fulfilling all its commitments as a NATO ally. Ekaterina Zaharieva saluted the process of accession to NATO of the Republic of North Macedonia and stressed that the enlargement of the Alliance must not stop.
‘No one must be kept out of NATO just because they have some neighbor. Let us continue to support the nations that aspire to become part of this alliance, ‘said Ekaterina Zaharieva. As an example she cited Georgia, which has carried out many reforms on the way to a full NATO membership. ‘It is high time the Allies make the decision to put its membership plan back on track,’ Ekaterina Zaharieva said.
Our Foreign Minister also outlined the main challenges to international security: violations of international law, jeopardizing the arms control structure by violating the INF Treaty, cyberthreats, terrorism, illegal migration.
‘The only way to genuinely counteract the hybrid threats and fake news that aim to endanger the democratic world is by building resistance against such news among the population. The way to achieve that is by educating the young people,’ said Ekaterina Zaharieva. In this context she pointed to the initiative ‘We are NATO’, launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in which youths, school and college students, cast themselves in the role of young NATO ambassadors.
Antonio Misiroli, the assistant Secretary General of NATO who took part in the conference, saluted the efforts of Bulgaria as an allied country aimed at protecting security in the Black Sea, its leading role in supporting the Euro-Atlantic journey of North Macedonia, Ukraine and Georgia, as well as Bulgaria’s participation in NATO missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq.
‘NATO is working to export stability and Sofia is making its contribution in that respect,’ said Antonio Misiroli.
The US Ambassador Eric Rubin said in his remarks that he was inspired by the progress in Bulgarian-US relations on matters of security within NATO. ‘This year will mark a jubilee in our bilateral relations. So far Bulgaria has received 200 million US dollars in security assistance from the United States. This year, about 60 Bulgarian representatives of different administrative structures will receive training in the US, both in a NATO context and in the framework of our bilateral relations,’ said Ambassador Rubin. He thanked Ekaterina Zaharieva for the successful meetings held in the framework of her visit to Washington.
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