site.btaForeign Minister's Last Round of Meetings in New York

New York, September 23 (BTA) - Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva had a total of 15 bilateral and six multilateral meetings in New York during the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Foreign Ministry summed up on Saturday.

On September 22, the last day of the Bulgarian delegation's participation in the UN forum, Zaharieva talked with the newly appointed UN Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov, who is in charge of the UN Counter-Terrorism Office, and met with the foreign ministers of Algeria, Colombia, Kuwait and Vietnam to discuss bilateral cooperation and the fight against terrorism.

"Terrorism knows no borders anymore; it turns out that many of the bombers were born in Europe and were later radicalized," Zaharieva said. She suggested that Voronkov's office could work with the social media after the example of the EU, which has signed an agreement with some social media to suppress hate talk. The new UN Under-Secretary-General invited young Bulgarian experts to join his team.

In his work, Voronkov will prioritize the struggle against the so-called foreign fighters, the tightening of border controls, the countering of radicalization via the Internet and the protection of terrorism victims.

Zaharieva's separate meetings with Foreign Ministers Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah of Kuwait, Abdelkader Messahel of Algeria, Maria Angela Holguin of Colombia and Pham Binh Minh of Vietnam focused on the fight against terrorism and the promotion of economic and cultural cooperation.

Zaharieva also took part in a working meeting of the foreign ministers of the four Balkan members of the EU: Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Romania. She and her respective counterparts Marija Pejcinovic Buric, Nikos Kotzias and Teodor Melescanu agreed that, together, their governments will assist the European integration of the other six Balkan nations. The ministers reviewed the achievements of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, and agreed to provide political and expert support for their European perspective. This means that the Western Balkans will be a priority not only for the upcoming Bulgarian EU Presidency but also for the other EU member states in the Balkans.