Head of State Rumen Radev inaugurates Bulgaria's national pavilion at the COP28 global climate forum

Sustainable climate solutions require close cooperation among countries, exchange of experience, transfer of knowledge and technology and concerted action. This is what President Rumen Radev said at the opening of Bulgaria's pavilion at the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28). The Head of State heads the Bulgarian delegation at the global forum, and Bulgaria for the first time has its own pavilion at the event, which this year takes place from 1 to 12 December in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In the Bulgarian pavilion, representatives of institutions, business, NGOs and science are presenting achievements in decarbonisation, as well as their activities and ambitions in the field of technology and innovative green industries.

According to the Head of State, cooperation between countries is crucial to achieving a just, people-, nature- and economy-focused carbon-neutral transition. He expressed confidence that the Bulgarian national pavilion will successfully serve not only as a venue for demonstrating climate-efficient and high-tech solutions, but also as a shared space for meetings and international communication.

Bulgaria is ready to expand its cooperation with like-minded countries, the President said, and expressed gratitude for the presence of the representatives of the foreign delegations. The opening of the Bulgarian pavilion was attended by the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, the President of Armenia, Vahagn Khachaturian, the Vice-President of the European Commission, Maros Sef?ovic, representatives of the US Department of Energy, ministers and representatives of foreign delegations. Thank you for being together today, speaking a common language, guided by shared goals, united in common efforts to turn our high ambitions into action, the Bulgarian Head of State said.

Rumen Radev highlighted the need for a sustainable transition to a green economy, without compromising the quality of life of the people and the competitiveness of the economies of each country. The President pointed out that this challenge can only be overcome by applying the latest technological achievements. He gave the example of the technological solutions presented at the Bulgarian national pavilion in the field of artificial intelligence, satellite technologies, autonomous systems, green energy, biotechnologies, and carbon-neutral industry. The Head of State pointed out that the successes in these areas are due to the interaction between state institutions, business, science and the non-governmental sector.

Among the institutions, business and science represented at the Bulgarian pavilion are the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Technology INSAIT, the Bulgarian nanosatellite technology company EnduroSat, the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval University, whose Antarctic expeditions are dedicated to scientific research, many of which are climate-related, the first carbon-neutral industrial zone in Europe "Thrace Economic Zone", the Executive Agency for Small and Medium Enterprises, the Institute of Robotics at the Bulgarian Academy of Science, the Bulgarian Investment Agency and others.