site.btaPresident Plevneliev: "We Need to Have More of NATO"

President Plevneliev:
"We Need to Have
More of NATO"


Sofia, October 10 (BTA) - Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev
told a defence and security conference in Sofia Friday that NATO
is a necessary vehicle of stability and Bulgaria needs to
improve its interoperability with the other NATO member
countries.

"Nowadays we need to have more of NATO in Eastern Europe and the
Black Sea region. In a rapidly changing world, NATO remains the
ultimate source of stability, it is a pillar for human rights
and freedoms and for steady economic development," said
Plevneliev, who is also Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the
Bulgarian Armed Forces.

He was speaking at a meeting of the Industrial Forum, a
Bulgarian national initiative aiming to promote partnership and
dialogue between the government, businesses and scientists
working in the field of defence and security.

Stressing the need for technological renovation and
modernization of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, Plevneliev said
troops' interoperability with the other NATO nations is a
topmost priority and Bulgaria should honour its commitments as
an ally. He recalled that just days ago the government adopted a
"National Programme: Bulgaria in NATO and in European Defence
2020," which sets out the methods of re-arming the Bulgarian
Armed Forces and achieving complete interoperability with the
allies in the shortest time possible. This, he said, requires
continuity and consistency in the policies of successive
Bulgarian governments. Such continuity will be provided at
political and military level. There is a programme and it must
be carried out, regardless of who is in power, the President
said.

He noted that most NATO countries are yet to reach the 2 per
cent mark for defence spending as a percentage of GDP. Bulgaria
will do everything within its powers and within the limits of
its national budget to gradually increase its defence spending,
thus showing solidarity in honouring a commitment which was
assumed at the recent NATO Summit in Wales. MORE /PK/VE