Bulgaria to host the XXXVIII Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting
08 May 2014 News
The work of the XXXVII Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) and the XVII annual meeting of the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) ended on 7 May. The international forum was held in Brasilia on 28 April - 7 May 2014.
Bulgaria will host the XXXVIII ATCM and XVIII CEP annual meeting in 2015. At the initiative of Brazil, Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal and the United Kingdom within the XXXVIII ATCM a workshop will be held on the topic "Education and promotion of the activities related to the work of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings."
During the XXXVII ATCM delegates from 41countries, parties to the Antarctic Treaty, observers and representatives of international expert organizations, discussed the legal and institutional matters related to the functioning of the Antarctic Treaty system, environmental protection, cooperation and information sharing, search and rescue, tourism in Antarctica and others.
At the last plenary meeting, the head of the Bulgarian delegation, Ambassador Rayko Raychev, Director General of the Global Affairs Directorate General at the MFA, confirmed that Bulgaria will host the XXXVIII ATCM and officially invited the guests to participate. The preliminary program of the forum which is planned to be held on 1-10 June 2015 in Sofia, was approved and a short movie about the Bulgarian Antarctic program, as well as the cultural and historical heritage, and natural resources of Sofia and Bulgaria was presented.