Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel is on a visit to Munich, Germany, where she is attending the 60th Munich Security Conference, she wrote on Facebook on Friday.
"It was a pleasure to meet the Foreign Minister of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. In 2024 we celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and India," Gabriel wrote. In her post, she pointed out that Bulgaria's foreign policy strategy, which is currently being drafted, will pay special attention to Bulgaria's cooperation with important partners like India.
"I shared with the Minister that Bulgaria is about to join the International Solar Alliance. We will also deepen our partnership within the new Science and Technology Cooperation Programme," Gabriel also wrote.
The focus of Gabriel's discussion with Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson was on innovation, defence and Bulgaria as a regional innovation hub. I hope we will soon welcome them as a full member of NATO, Gabriel said.
She discussed cooperation on the preparations for the NATO summit in Washington and support for Ukraine with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. Gabriel congratulated the Minister on Lithuania's national day. “Thank you for Lithuania's strong support for Bulgaria's accession to Schengen. We continue to count on support for our accession to the euro area and the OECD," the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister wrote.
In her Facebook post, Mariya Gabriel noted that Friday's programme in Munich started with a meeting with European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas. The focus of the talks was Bulgaria's accession to Schengen by air and water in March and the adoption of a decision by the end of the year to abolish land border controls, Gabriel wrote.
She noted that she also met Christian Democratic Union (CDU) President Friedrich Merz. They discussed the domestic political situation in Bulgaria and Germany and preparations for the upcoming European Parliament elections.
Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mariya Gabriel will meet later on Friday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich, the government information service said.
For the 60th consecutive year, the event in the Bavarian capital will bring together world political leaders to debate the most pressing international security issues.
Defence Minister Todor Tagarev will also participate in the Munich security conference.
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