Kristian Vigenin conferred the "Golden Laurel Bough" award on Ambassador Matthias Höpfner
14 January 2014 News
Minister Kristian Vigenin conferred the "Golden Laurel Bough" award on Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Republic of Germany Matthias Höpfner. "The highest award of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria is conferred on the German diplomat for his significant contribution to the development and strengthening of the friendly relations, the political, economic and cultural cooperation between Bulgaria and the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as on the occasion of his 60th anniversary.
"We inherited some specific and grave problems in the relations between the two countries and with your help some of them have been solved, and progress has been made on others," said the Foreign Minister at the ceremony, held at the MFA in the presence of representatives of the diplomatic corps, accredited in Sofia. "I am glad that in an accelerated time the Agreement on mutual provision of property ownership in Sofia and Berlin was signed, ratified and entered into force - an issue that is present for many years in the relations between our two countries," he added.
Kristian Vigenin expressed his gratitude to Ambassador Höpfner for his contribution to the dynamic and productive interaction between Bulgaria and Germany. The Foreign Minister expressed confidence that the new government of the Federal Republic of Germany will continue to assist Bulgaria and the two countries will work together for the development of the European project. "This year we mark the 135th anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between our two countries. I believe this will be an incentive for us to further strengthen our cooperation both bilaterally and within the EU," said Minister Vigenin.
For the friendly relations between Bulgaria and Germany, especially in the European context, the last four years have been pretty intense, said on his part Ambassador Matthias Höpfner. He thanked for the constructive cooperation of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry and its employees. "The finalization of the Agreement on mutual provision of property ownership between the two countries is a big case on which our colleaguesbefore us have worked for more than 15 years,” said Ambassador Matthias Höpfner. He emphasized also the importance of the development of bilateral relations of cooperation in the field of education.
"I wish you health, strength and success, because your success in Sofia will count also as success for the Bulgarian Diplomacy,” said in conclusion Minister Kristian Vigenin.
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