US Ambassador Herro Mustafa and caretaker ministers of economy and foreign affairs discussed Bulgarian chairmanship of the “Three Seas” initiative

Bulgaria’s caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, Svetlan Stoev and the Minister of Economy, Kiril Petkov, and the US Ambassador Herro Mustafa on May 17 discussed topics from the shared agenda of the Bulgaria-US Strategic Dialogue, as well as the Bulgarian chairmanship of the Three Seas Initiative.

Minister Stoev stressed the continuity in the foreign policy of the caretaker government, as well as the desire of the Bulgarian side to further deepen the strategic partnership with the United States both bilaterally and in the context of transatlantic relations. He focused on key priorities for Bulgaria in the relations with the United States, including Bulgaria's accession to the US Visa Waiver Program, the start of negotiations on a bilateral Social Security Agreement, support for Bulgaria's accession to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

In the light of the Bulgarian hosting of the Three Seas Initiative in 2021 and the forthcoming summit in Sofia, the caretaker Minister of Economy Kiril Petkov expressed the desire of the Bulgarian side for closer contacts with business partners not only from Central and Eastern Europe, but from the United States as well.

With the establishment of the Bulgaria-US Strategic Dialogue, the first session of which was on January 8, 2020, bilateral cooperation was raised to a qualitatively new level, both bilaterally and through multilateral cooperation.