site.btaUPDATED Foreign Minister Gabriel Addresses International Conference on Diplomacy

An international conference on scientific diplomacy in the modern era was held at the House of Europe in Sofia on Tuesday, the Diplomatic Institute said. The event was organised on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the institute to the Foreign Ministry. 

The forum started with a written address by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel, who said that Bulgaria supports the science diplomacy initiative, which stimulates international cooperation and strengthens stability. The Diplomatic Institute was established 20 years ago in response to the needs of Bulgarian diplomacy to actively participate in the process of Bulgaria's Euro-Atlantic integration, Gabriel said in her address. The text notes that over the years the institute has become a generator of ideas for the development of the Bulgarian diplomatic service.

The main objective of the conference is to discuss the opportunities for the development of science diplomacy as an instrument of Bulgaria's foreign policy and in the context of the European Science Diplomacy Programme. The forum provides a platform for exchange of experience and good practices between representatives of a wide range of organisations and institutions relevant to the topic, the organisers said.

Special guests of the conference were directors of diplomatic academies and institutes in Central and South-Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region - Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Turkiye, Georgia and Ukraine.

Details from the first steps and the history of the Diplomatic Institute were presented by Solomon Passy, who was foreign minister at the time of the institute's establishment, Assoc. Prof. Zdravko Popov - its first director, and Ron Ton - director of the Dutch Diplomatic Academy Clingendael.

The Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute was established by a decision of the Council of Ministers on September 23, 2003. On the Day of the Bulgarian Diplomatic Service, which is marked on July 19, the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute presented the annual honorary Docendo Discimus awards, which since 2013 have been awarded to a citizen or institution with a contribution to the development and promotion of the Institute.