site.btaInformal Defence Policy Directors Meeting Held in Sofia

Sofia, February 21 (BTA) - An Informal Meeting of EU Defence Policy Directors was held here on Monday and Tuesday, the Defence Ministry reported Wednesday.

The forum is part of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council's agenda and was held with the purpose of assisting with the preparations for the upcoming EU Foreign Affairs on defence council, to be held in Brussels March 6. The meeting in Sofia was attended by over 70 delegates from all EU Member States, the European External Action Service, the European Defence Agency and the European Commission. The event was hosted by head of the Bulgarian Defence Ministry's Defence Policy Directorate, Rossitsa Dimitrova.

The working sessions focused on discussing cooperation between the EU and NATO, the Permanent Structured Cooperation on security and defence (PESCO), as well as the main elements of the road map developed by PESCO's Secretariat.

Improving military mobility was also discussed in light of the need to overcome legal, diplomatic, customs- and infrastructure-related obstacles to the swift movement of military forces and equipment in the EU. The importance of this matter was brought up in the context of relations with NATO.