Mariya Gabriel: Bulgaria and NATO we are stronger together
29 March 2024 News
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel took part in the National Conference ‘20 Years Bulgaria in NATO: Because we are stronger together’. The President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev, Prime Minister Acad. Nikolay Denkov and Minister of Defence Todor Tagarev were among the official participants in the opening ceremony.
The Forum is part of the National Programme of Initiatives to mark the 20th anniversary of Bulgaria's NATO accession. It is under the auspices of the government and organised by the Diplomatic Institute under the Minister of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Information Centre of the Ministry of Defence, the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria and the Sofia Security Forum.
‘NATO is a community of shared democratic values and principles, of collective responsibility to address the challenges and threats to Euro-Atlantic security, an alliance of active civic participation and a common vision for development. When we look back at the last 20 years, we can proudly say that it has been a success story. For Bulgaria, joining NATO was not only a strategic foreign policy objective. It was an inspiration for several generations of Bulgarians, an incentive for the implementation of important reforms, for the consolidation of democratic values’, Mariya Gabriel said.
The Deputy Prime Minister emphasised that during these two decades Bulgaria has managed to establish itself as a full and active participant in the implementation of the three key tasks of the Alliance — collective defence, crisis prevention and management, security through cooperation.
‘I express my gratitude and appreciation to the generations of statesmen before us who made the geostrategic choice for Bulgaria to become part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. We have chosen to join an alliance of countries that together defend our security, freedom and economic progress. Only with united efforts, sharing good practices and highlighting Bulgaria’s contribution to NATO can we be stronger’, Mariya Gabriel added.
The Deputy Prime Minister presented commemorative medals, made on the occasion of the anniversary, for special merits for our country’s accession to NATO to Petar Stoyanov, President of the Republic of Bulgaria (1997—2002); Dr. Solomon Passy, Minister for Foreign Affairs (2001—2005); Ambassador Lyubomir Ivanov, First Representative of Bulgaria to NATO; Assoc. Prof. Velizar Shalamanov, Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of the NATO Communications and Information Agency (2019—2021) and Gen. Stefan Dimitrov, Honorary President of the Atlantic Reserve Officers’ Union.
The conference will be followed by a solemn concert on Alexander I Battenberg Square by Representative Brass Bands of the National Guards Units from Bulgaria and NATO.
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