site.btaForeign Minister Mitov Gives Keynote Speech at AJC' Global Forum

Foreign Minister Mitov Gives Keynote Speech at  AJC' Global Forum

Washington, June 9 (BTA) - Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel
Mitov was among keynote speakers at the American Jewish
Committee's Global Forum during a plenary session of global
leaders.

In his speech Minister Mitov commended highly the consistent
support to Bulgaria by the American Jewish Committee during its
years of transition, its accession to NATO and the EU and the
development of strategic relations between Bulgaria and the US.

The Minister said that ties between Bulgaria and the Jewish
people have a long history, underscoring the strategic
partnership nowadays between Bulgaria and Israel. He noted also
the historical relations with the Palestinian people who has a
right to its own state while at the same time respecting the
integrity and security of its neighbour. Minister Mitov
underscored that "there is hardly an alternative to the
co-existence of the two states side by side in peace and
security against the backdrop of increasing instability in the
Middle East." He reaffirmed Bulgaria's support for progress in
that direction through negotiations instead of violence and
one-sided actions.

Mitov touched on the subject of xenophobia and antisemitism,
noting that "the memory of the Holocaust should be preserved and
shared with next generations in order to ensure that Europe
will no longer succumb to radical sentiment."

The Bulgarian Foreign Minister highlighted the ethnic and
religious tolerance of the Bulgarian people and the shared
responsibility for the peaceful and mutually enriching
coexistence of various people, religions and cultures.

The American Jewish Committee thanked Bulgaria for its role in
the debates in the European Union for blacklisting the military
wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and allso thanked
personally Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.