site.btaUPDATED NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana Visits Bulgaria

NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana and permanent representatives of NATO member nations to the North Atlantic Council arrive on a working visit to Bulgaria on Friday, November 10, the Government Information Service in Sofia said.

Geoana will have a meeting with Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov. The two will visit the Novo Selo training area and observe demonstrations within the Iron Strike 2023 exercise of the Bulgaria-hosted multinational battlegroup led by Italy.

The demonstrations will also be watched by Defence Minister Todor Tagarev, the ambassadors of the countries which have committed forces to the multinational battlegroup, and leaders of Bulgarian parliamentary committees and parliamentary groups. Chief of Defence Adm. Emil Eftimov, Deputy Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov, Deputy Foreign Minister Elena Shekerletova, the Prime Minister's Foreign and Security Policy Adviser Dragomir Zakov and top brass from Bulgaria and NATO will be present as well.

Interviewed by BTA on the eve of the visit, Deputy SG Geoana vowed that NATO will continue to support and protect its Black Sea allies Romania, Bulgaria and Turkiye. He thanked Bulgaria for its contribution to the bloc. "Bulgaria plays a very important role. It's a country with a splendid geopolitical location, neighboring the very important regions of the Black Sea and the Balkans, and also the Mediterranean and the Middle East. And the contribution of Bulgaria has been very consistent," he said.