68th anniversary of Bulgaria's accession to the United Nations. Briefing of the Bulgarian Youth Delegates to the UN
15 December 2023 News
On 14 December 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs celebrated the 68th anniversary of Bulgaria's accession to the United Nations. On this occasion, the participants in the Youth Delegates to the United Nations programme Viktoriya Savova and Tsvetelina Garelova reported on their activities for the mandate 2022—2023.
The Bulgarian Youth Delegates to the United Nations programme was established in 2006 and is organised by the United Nations Association in Bulgaria with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The programme exists in about 40 countries around the world. It places Bulgaria among the leading countries in the world and Europe that recognise young people as equal partners in decision-making processes at national and international level.
In his address to the young people, the Director of the United Nations and Global Affairs Directorate, Ivan Gospodinov, stressed the need for youth spirit and energy at this time when the world is facing a number of challenges to global peace and security and the climate emergency. He noted that it is in this context that the involvement of young people and youth organizations in UN activities is necessary, strengthening international peace and security, but also because of their optimism to turn the challenges of climate change and new technologies into opportunities for progress.
Ambassador Vladimir Sotirov, President of the United Nations Association in Bulgaria, thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its long-standing and sustained support for the representation of Bulgarian youth at the highest international level. He stressed that through the Bulgarian Youth Delegates Programme to the UN our country is among the leading countries internationally that recognize youth as an equal partner in decision-making processes at national and international level. He also called for the involvement of youth in the preparation for and participation in the Summit for the Future, which will bring together world leaders in New York on 22—23 September 2024 to build a new international consensus on how to protect a better present and safeguard the future for generations to come.
Bulgaria's youth delegates to the UN Viktoriya Savova and Tsvetelina Garelova informed about their activities in conducting a national survey to outline the priorities among Bulgarian youth in order to present them at national and international level and presented highlights of their participation in the 61st session of the Commission for Social Development of UN ECOSOC in February 2023, in the 78th session of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly in New York. Our youth delegates informed about their participation in the ECOSOC Youth Forum in New York, organized by the Bulgarian Permanent Representative to the UN Ms. Lachezara Stoeva, in her capacity as ECOSOC Chair for the period July 2022—July 2023, dedicated to ‘Accelerating recovery from COVID-19 and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda with and for Youth’. They noted the first participation of youth delegates at the first Bulgarian stand at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), which took place from 30 November to 12 December in Dubai.