site.btaUN Diplomat Heads Bulgarian EU Presidency Planning Centre

UN Diplomat Heads Bulgarian EU Presidency Planning Centre

Sofia, August 5 (BTA) - United Nations diplomat Lyubomir Ivanov will head the National Centre for Planning the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (NCPBP-EU), the government press service said on Friday. The Bulgarian EU Presidency is scheduled for the first half of 2018.

The NCPBP-EU will organize and perform the activities and the tasks related to the Bulgarian EU Presidency, coordinate the work of the teams involved, and conduct relevant public procurement procedures. Until the end of 2016, it will comprise 15 civil servants from government ministries and experts. In 2017 and during the first half of 2018, it will have 50 members. The centre will be shut down within four months after the Presidency.

The NCPBP-EU will be supervised by National Headquarters chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Meglena Kuneva, who is the National Coordinator for the Bulgarian EU Presidency. Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov will be Deputy Chairperson of the National Headquarters. The Headquarters will also comprise members appointed (one person each) by the President of Bulgaria, the National Assembly Chairperson and the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers, the Ministers of Finance, Culture and Regional Development, security officials, Bulgaria's Permanent Representative to the EU, and directorate chiefs at the Council of Ministers and the Foreign Ministry.

Lyubomir Ivanov is a long-serving career diplomat, former Chief Negotiator for Bulgaria's Accession to NATO and former Deputy Foreign Minister (2002-2004). Between 2004 and 2009, he was Bulgaria's first Permanent Representative to NATO after the country's accession to the bloc. Since 2012, he has been Bulgaria's Permanent Representative to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the other Rome-based UN agencies.