site.btaNATO Secretary General Receives Bulgarian Foreign Minister

NATO Secretary General Receives Bulgarian Foreign Minister

Brussels, May 17 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) - Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva was received by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the organization's headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday evening for the first time since the minister's appointment.

Emerging from the meeting, Zaharieva told Bulgarian journalists that she and her host had discussed Bulgaria's contribution to NATO's activities and preparations for a May 25 meeting of NATO heads of state and government which will look at burden sharing and the Alliance's role in the fight against terrorism.

Zaharieva and Stoltenberg also talked about Black Sea security and the importance of cooperation between NATO and the European Union.

"We discussed many aspects of our NATO membership," Zaharieva said. "We share the understanding that NATO needs to show a strong political will to fight terrorism. We talked about the EU's common defence policy and the understanding that this project will not compete with NATO but will rather complement it."

Stoltenberg thanked Zaharieva for Bulgaria's strong contributions to NATO missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as its support to partners, including Ukraine. Calling Bulgaria "a highly valued Ally," the Secretary General welcomed Sofia's plans for increased investments in defence.