Kristian Vigenin: The Diplomatic Institute has become an independent instrument of our foreign policy
18 October 2013 News
"The Diplomatic Institute has established itself as a center that provides the MFA not only with wide range of training programs, but has also become an independent instrument of our foreign policy." This was said today by Minister Kristian Vigenin in his statement at the opening of the regional conference on “Challenges of diplomacy today”, organized on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Institute. Minister Vigenin congratulated the Director Tanya Mihaylova and her team for the anniversary and their excellent work. The Head of the Bulgarian diplomacy stressed that the activity of the Institute, focused on the countries and regions that we are strategically connected with, deserves high praise. One possible answer to the challenges facing our diplomacy is the ability to think beyond the methods of the traditional diplomacy, the minister said. He outlined the main foreign policy priorities of Bulgaria, which include preserving continuity, full participation in the EU, development of the regional cooperation in South East Europe and Black Sea Regions, as well as supporting the Bulgarian communities abroad. A necessary condition for the fulfillment of these goals is ensuring the security, which we achieve through our active participation in NATO, CSDP and the support towards the inclusion of our neighbors to the thus formed Euro-Atlantic security environment.
Welcome address to the forum participants was sent by the Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev. Greetings were also received from Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, Colin Powell, Former U.S. Secretary of State, Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President of Finland, and others.
Some of the participants in the one-day conference include the former Foreign Minister Solomon Passy , the former directors of the institute, its alumni, foreign ambassadors, accredited in Bulgaria, directors and representatives of diplomatic academies and institutes in South East Europe and the Black Sea regions and EU members states. Among them are Ron Ton - Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Netherlands “Clingendael” and Klaus Fiesinger - Head of Central, East and Southeast Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia Department at the Hanns Seidel Foundation - two institutions that are active partners of the Diplomatic Institute since its establishment. Special guest speaker is Jan Petersen, Norwegian Ambassador to Austria and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway (2001-2005).
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