site.btaOutgoing Foreign Minister Gabriel Attends Farewell Meeting with Ambassadors

Outgoing Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel invited the ambassadors in Bulgaria to a farewell meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She outlined in detail the concrete results achieved in the last ten months in the field of foreign policy and thanked the heads of diplomatic missions for the fruitful joint work, constructive dialogue and support.

"Unity, mutual respect, pragmatic cooperation and anticipatory action have been guiding principles in my work," Gabriel said. She stressed that she had worked actively to establish Bulgaria as a recognizable, proactive and reliable partner in the EU and NATO. A concrete example of this is keeping the issue of support for Ukraine high on the agenda of the two alliances, demonstrated by Gabriel's meetings with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

 "I have worked to position Bulgaria as a regional leader, underlining the strategic importance of the Western Balkans and the Black Sea region," Gabriel continued. She stressed the importance of improving connectivity in the region - infrastructure, energy, economic, and digital, as well as cooperation in the field of innovation.

The outgoing Foreign Minister also highlighted the results in terms of Bulgaria's accession to Schengen with the abolition of air and sea border controls, as well as the progress in Bulgaria's preparations to join the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Mariya Gabriel also drew attention to strategic partnerships with countries inside and outside Europe. She pointed out that she deepened partnerships with the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Examples are the Second Session of the Bulgaria-US Strategic Dialogue and the important Memorandum of Understanding signed between Bulgaria and the United States on countering foreign manipulation of information. A Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership has been adopted with the UK, covering key areas such as foreign, security and defence policy, justice and home affairs, science, innovation, education. "We have given a new impetus to the 2008 strategic partnership agreement between Bulgaria and France, and the Roadmap will be updated," Gabriel added.

She thanked for the regular and constructive dialogue with different groups of ambassadors in Bulgaria: the group of EU ambassadors, the group of ambassadors from non-EU countries, the ambassadors from Arab and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation countries, the group of ambassadors from Asia, the group of women ambassadors, as well as the group of ambassadors speaking Bulgarian.

Gabriel also referred to the work done to establish Bulgaria as a regional innovation hub, as well as to the creation of a strategic image of the country, which will present the history, traditions, culture and successes of the country through the concept of "Brand Bulgaria".

The Deputy Prime Minister also stressed the importance of the first of its kind Foreign Policy Strategy of Bulgaria, the draft of which was presented on Monday at a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thanking especially all those involved in its development.

Last but not least, Gabriel thanked all the diplomatic service employees for their high professionalism and dedication to the cause of defending the Bulgarian national interest with dignity.