site.btaForeign Minister Zaharieva Meets with Top Diplomats of Afghanistan, Qatar and Nepal

107 POLITICS-UN-FOREIGN MINISTER-MEETINGS

Foreign Minister Zaharieva
Meets with Top Diplomats
of Afghanistan, Qatar and Nepal


New York, September 26 (BTA) - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva met with her counterparts from Afghanistan, Qatar and Nepal in New York. Zaharieva is on the Bulgarian delegation to the UN General Assembly, led by Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.

Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani thanked for Bulgaria's contribution to the recovery of Afghanistan. He said that Bulgarian troops are recognized as some of the best professionals. Bulgaria participates with a 160-strong force in NATO's Resolute Support mission and contributes 1 million dollars to a fund which assists the Afghan armed forces.

Zaharieva and Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani discussed a broad range of issues on the international agenda focusing on the political situation in the Persian Gulf and the EU.

Zaharieva thanked Qatar for its pragmatic approach to bilateral relations after a state visit to Bulgaria by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in March. For his part, Minister Al Thani congratulated Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on the results of the Bulgarian EU Presidency and the 16+1 summit. The two discussed the implications from the withdrawal of the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's nuclear programme.

In the year when Bulgaria and Nepal mark the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations the first meeting of the two counties' foreign ministers in ten years took place in New York. Zaharieva thanked her newly appointed counterpart Pradeep Kumar Gyawali for Nepal's assistance in the search of Bulgarian mountaineer Boyan Petrov who perished on the way to Shishapangma. She extended an invitation to Gyawali to visit Sofia.

The Nepali Foreign Minister briefed Zaharieva on the progress of political reforms after the first elections held under the 2015 democratic constitution. Gyawali invited Bulgarian businesses to invest in Nepal. LI/PP


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