President Rumen Radev held a phone call today with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The conversation was initiated by Mr. Antony Blinken and the two discussed various topics, ranging from bilateral partnership between Bulgaria and the USA, the sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against Bulgarian natural persons and entities, cooperation in the field of security and defence, recovery following the Coronavirus pandemic, as well as the European Integration of the Republic of North Macedonia.

President Radev described the sanctions imposed under the Global Magnitsky Act as a strong sign in support of Bulgarian citizens’ striving for strengthening democracy, justice and transparency. This is the USA’s contribution to fighting corruption, as well as to strengthening democracy and promoting the potential of Bulgarian economy, stated Mr. Antony Blinken.

Mr. Rumen Radev shared his appreciation of bilateral partnership in defence and called for increasing industrial cooperation in the field. An emphasis was put on the long-standing partnership in modernising the Bulgarian army, including through implementing new models of modern military training. Antony Blinken also outlined our country’s contribution to the development of the NATO 2030 Strategy.

During the conversation, President Radev underlined Bulgaria’s ambitions of utilising the European funds under the Recovery and Resilience Plan for decisive modernisation of the country and called for increased investments from the USA in high added value fields such as IT, science and education.

The European perspective of Albania and the Republic of North Macedonia was also discussed, with Mr. Antony Blinken expressing his expectations for accelerating our southwestern neighbour’s process of European integration. The two shared the position that this is in the interest of stability and security not only of the region, but of Europe as well. The Head of State reiterated our consistent support for the accession of the Republic of North Macedonia and called for achieving sustainable and irreversible results in building good-neighbourly relations, as well as for strict adherence to the Copenhagen Criteria, which will accelerate the process of the EU passing a negotiation framework for our southwestern neighbour.