site.btaBulgarian Chief of Defence Hosts Conference on Hybrid War

Bulgarian Chief of Defence Hosts Conference on Hybrid War

Sofia, February 16 (BTA) - The Bulgarian Chief of Defence Konstantin Popov hosts his annual conference in Sofia Tuesday and Wednesday. The forum is focused on preparation of the Bulgarian Armed Forces for countering a hybrid war, said the Defence Ministry.

Participating in the forum are Defence Minister Nikolai Nenchev, the deputy defence ministers, top brass, the commanders of structures under the Defence Minister's command, MPs and officials of other ministries.

In his opening remarks, Gen. Popov said that the blurred borderline between war and peace during a hybrid war is the biggest challenge for the countries and requires maintaining and developing adequate capabilities and synergy of efforts on national and international level.

He underscored the need of close cooperation between the military and civilian structures for guaranteeing national security, the contribution of this country to the collective security of the Alliance and the processes of building defence capabilities within the EU common security and defence policy.

Speaking at the forum, Defence Minister Nenchev outlined the priorities in the defence sector in 2016. These include a national strategy for countering a hybrid war and a plan for its implementation. The Minister said that a system for crisis management on a national level needs to be set in place promptly and that his Ministry will prepare a review of the applicable legislation and draft a crisis management bill.

Among the priorities is also the preparation of documents necessary for the modernization of the armed forces to ensure, among other things, transparent, expedient and lawful expending of the available resources, Nenchev said.