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The Deputy Prime Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva had a number of bilateral meetings in New York

28 October 2018 News

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva had a number of bilateral meetings in New York within the framework of the 73rd session of the General Assembly of the UN. She is there as part of the Bulgarian delegation lead by Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

Minister Zaharieva had talks with her colleagues with whom organising meetings in Europe within the traditional ministerial formats presents a challenge.

‘Our economic relations are developing with greater intensity, including in trade’, Minister Zaharieva stated before her Japanese counterpart Mr. Taro Kono. ‘You have successfully completed your mandate as Presidency of the Council of the EU and we highly appreciate your efforts to achieve stability in the Western Balkans. We remain willing to cooperate with Bulgaria in order to see more Japanese investments in the country’, Minister Kono said.

‘We share common positions on 99 percent of the issues on the global agenda and we will be pleased to sustain the contact between our teams. Next year is important because we will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Japan’, Minister Zaharieva concluded. She thanked Japan for the decision to join two joint projects for the Western Balkans, which are already under way. The Ministers agreed to exchange visits next year and discussed a number of issues, including the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

‘We are interested in food, energy, tourism and services. We enjoy excellent relations but more can still be done’, Minister Zaharieva said before her counterpart from the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

‘I am pleased that earlier this year we could open a Bulgarian Embassy in Abu Dhabi. I am hopeful that we will be able to implement joint projects in the high-tech and food industry sectors’, Minister Zaharieva noted and announced that in Bulgaria preparation was already under way for EXPO 2020 in Dubai.

Syria and the situation in the Middle East were the main topics of discussion of the Bulgarian top diplomat and her Jordanian colleague Ayman Safadi. ‘We must be realists and leave the process in the hands of Syrian citizens. The commission tasked with drafting a new constitution should commence its work very soon’, Minister Zaharieva said. The two ministers discussed how to further stimulate bilateral relations, trade and the economy. Minister Safadi promised to visit Bulgaria next year.

At a meeting with the Foreign Minister of Lybia Mohamed Taher Siala, the situation in the country was discussed, along with the readiness of Bulgarian businesses to take part in the reconstruction effort.

‘Many citizens of Mozambique speak Bulgarian and I also have Bulgarian friends’, Minister José António Pacheco told his Bulgarian counterpart. He invited the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister to visit the country together with a business delegation.

The Foreign Minister of Senegal Sidiki Kaba expressed gratitude for the active role of the Deputy Prime Minister Zaharieva during the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council in the development of the negotiation mandate for the new Partnership Agreements between the EU and African, Pacific and Caribbean countries. The two ministers agreed to organise political consultations between the two ministries at which topics of mutual interest, such as migration, the fight against terrorism and climate change can be discussed.

‘It is time for relations between the EU and Africa to be elevated to a partnership level. You can rely on Bulgaria as a strong supporter of the new Partnership Agreement between the EU and ACP States. Investments are an important instrument for ensuring that young people remain in Africa’, Minister Zaharieva said.

‘We love Bulgaria. We know Bulgaria. I went to University in Moscow and made many Bulgarian friends there’, the Foreign Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, Erlan Abdyldayev, said on a visit to Sofia at the invitation of Minister Zaharieva.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Namibia, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, invited Bulgarian businesses to invest in her country. She presented the conditions, which her government has created for foreign businesses wishing to invest in Namibia. ‘There are possibilities for investment in the energy sector, tourism, agriculture, mining and fisheries’, the top diplomat of Namibia said, emphasizing that the improvement of the economies of the African countries will have a direct effect on migration from the continent. Minister Zaharieva discussed the possibilities for cooperation with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Rwanda, Louise Mushikiwabo.

The first meeting between the Foreign Ministers in the history of bilateral relations between Bulgaria and the Dominican Republic took place in New York. Deputy Prime Minister Zaharieva discussed work on the new 20-year Partnership Agreement between the EU and African, Caribbean and Pacific States, which was actively supported by the Bulgarian Presidency, the importance of multilateralism for international relations and the appointment of an honorary consul of the country with Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado.

Minister Zaharieva further discussed the role of Bulgaria in the Union for the Mediterranean with its Secretary-General Nasser Kamel and our cooperation with the Council of Europe with Secretary-General Thorbjørn Jagland.

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