site.btaForeign Minister Zaharieva Opens Bulgarian Embassy in Abu Dhabi

Sofia, April 10 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva Tuesday opened an embassy in Abu Dhabi, the 77th embassy of Bulgaria abroad, her ministry reported.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Zaharieva said that this marks the solid and deepening relations between Bulgaria and the United Arab Emirates. "Here we have 7,000 ambassadors: our compatriots who work in all economic spheres," she noted. Attending the ceremony were Minister of State Zaki Nusseibeh, ambassadors and Bulgarians.

The new embassy will be headed by Bogdan Kolarov, who presented his credential letters on January 31, 2018. Before this he was Bulgaria's consul general in Dubai.

The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry specifies that the reason for the opening of this new embassy is the gradual increase in the number of Bulgarian nationals residing in the United Arab Emirates since the mid-1990s. This country has the biggest Bulgarian community in the Gulf and possibly in the entire Arab world.

As part of her working visit to the United Arab Emirates, Zaharieva also signed a memorandum of cooperation between the foreign ministries of the two countries and finalized the preparation for the signing of two additional documents of importance for citizens and the business community: for mutual recognition of driving licences and for mutual protection of investments.

Meeting with Zaharieva, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said that Bulgaria should use the United Arab Emirates as a starting point for entry in various markets, and not just as an economy with a GDP of 400 billion dollars.

The two ministers discussed at length a wide range of matters on the international agenda, including the latest developments of the situation in Syria, the processes in the Middle East and the EU's position, Islam, religious radicalization, hate speech, and the fight against terrorism.

Zaharieva also met with Minister of Economy Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri and Minister of State for Food Security Maryam Al Mehairi. They agreed to work towards a joint business forum as well as to seek opportunities for joint projects in agriculture, high technologies, and the production of organic food.

Zaharieva and the Minister of Economy agreed to work towards the launching of direct flights between Sofia and Abu Dhabi to be serviced by the Emirates airline.

Between 1996 and 2017, the United Arab Emirates invested 89.24 million euro in Bulgaria, placing the Arab country 37th for the amount of direct investments here. Scheduled flights operated by two low-cost airlines have been connecting Sofia and Dubai since 2013.