“One of our main goals is to strengthen the dialogue among the institutions on issues related to foreign policy, and especially the dialogue with the National Assembly and the Foreign Affairs Committee. We have revived the practice, and from now on it will be an active one, of newly-appointed Bulgarian ambassadors undergoing a hearing by the committee before their departure for the country where they have been appointed,” Kristian Vigenintold reporters.

 

He added that work was being done to strengthen co-operation with the Ministry of Economy and Energy and other ministries which have direct links to foreign policy. “It is the intention of the government, and mine personally, that diplomatic representations abroad take on a stronger role in the areas of energy, foreign trade and investment,” Minister Vigeninsaid. A specific step that has been taken in this regard is the inclusion of “economic diplomacy” in the portfolio of one of the directors-general of the institution.

 

Full implementation of Bulgaria's membership of the EU is another major task. “We started work on the optimisation of the work of the Council for European Affairs at the Council of Ministers, which is headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Our goal is to make its work more effective, for there to be more adequate and faster co-ordination of positions, timely identification of issues that are key to Bulgaria, and for these also to be put to public discussion,” Minister Vigeninsaid. Serious preparations also had begun for Bulgaria’s future rotating presidency of the EU 2018, for which a working groupalready has been set up, he said.

 

The Bulgarian Foreign Minister also has initiated the creation of a working group to conduct a thorough analysis of the possibilities for better positioning of Bulgaria in various structures of regional co-operation. This group will soon propose an action plan.

 

Public discussion of the ordinance on the career development of diplomatic officials has already been completed and the new regulations of the ministry will undergo the same procedure. It is expected that both documents will be adopted by the end of August, the Ministersaid. The legal framework for the activities of the diplomatic service will be completed with the drafting of a Code of Ethics for employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to ensure order and predictability of the system, Kristian Vigeninemphasised. Furthermore, the ministry will work to reduce thenumber of political appointments of ambassadors and consuls general, the Foreign Minister said.

 

Minister Vigenin also gave a briefing on the decision by the European Union Foreign Affairs Council to include the military wing of Hezbollah on the list of terrorist organisations, and the ministerial meeting on the Eastern Partnership.