Annual Session of UNGA
20 September 2011 NewsSecurity Is the Path to Achieving Prosperity,
Bulgarian Foreign Minister tells UN General Assembly
24.09.2011
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The Arab Spring has again shown the universality of democracy and democratic principles
20.09.2011
On the first day of his visit to New York, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nickolay Maldenov held talks with the President of 66th Session of UN General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar.
The Bulgarian Foreign Minister congratulated the President of the General Assembly on the recognition of the credentials of the National Transitional Council of Libya as the legitimate representative at the UN of the Libyan people. Minister Mladenov emphasised the world body’s great influence in the Middle East.
In a lecture to students at Columbia University, Minister Mladenov said: “The Arab Spring has again shown the universality of democracy and democratic principles”.
“In North Africa and the Middle East, recent months have seen the results of a sense of injustice and frustration and the expression of a strong sense of dignity, rights and opportunities. Our common goal – of the EU, of the countries in North Africa and of the world – is to support this quest for democracy,” Nickolay Mladenov said.
He compared the revolutionary change in the Arab world with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of totalitarian regimes in Eastern Europe more than 20 years ago. Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister emphasised the need to achieve concrete results for the Arab nations, judicial reform, strengthening the role of the middle class as a natural ally of democracy and rule of law and the conduct of free and fair elections in these countries.
He concluded his remarks to the Columbia University students by saying: “We are working together with the United States and many other countries who want to see peace, rule of law and prosperity in the Middle East and North Africa".