Bulgaria's Top Diplomat Lauds NATO Joint Defense Shield

Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, is attending the NATO Summit in Lisbon. Photo by BGNES

The NATO Lisbon Summit will guarantee Europe's security for the next 10 to 15 years, according to Bulgaria's Foreign Minister, Nikolay Mladenov.

Mladenov, who is in Lisbon, spoke Saturday in phone interview for the Bulgarian National Radio, BNR.

The Minister said the NATO member nations have reached an agreement on developing a joint missile shield because they have common interest – the threat of technologies making balisitc rockets more accessible; the existence of radical groups, and the tensions created by the possibility of the spread of nuclear weapons.

Mladenov further informed the issue with the expansion of the NATO shield, especially in neighboring Turkey remains open, adding Turkey's participation is very likely, but talks on the issue were still forthcoming.

According to the Minister, the shield will be finished in 2014, pending the technologies used, reiterating Bulgaria will have the shield cover its entire territory.

Partnership between NATO and Russia is on top of the Summit's agenda, Mladenov confirmed, saying this partnership was made possible, once again, by common threat assessment.

The NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan is also debated in Lisbon.

Bulgaria will send to Afghanistan 3 more training teams to help the ISAF goal to gather 2 000 experts to train Afghani military forces; it has 5 open positions for Bulgarian policemen in the country; and would also assist in the building of the capacity of the local government to lead its own State Mladenov explained.

The Minister stressed on the importance of the issue with energy infrastructure protection and safety.

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