Ban 1st UN Secretary-General to Visit Bulgaria since 1984, 4th Overall

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) is pictured entering the Bulgarian Parliament with the monument of Bulgaria's Liberator, Russian Emperor Alexander II, in the background. Photo by BGNES

Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Sofia Thursday, is the first acting UN Secretary-General to visit Bulgaria since 1984.

Ban, a former Foreign Minister of South Korea, is the eighth Secretary-General in the history of the UN since it was set up in 1944, and the fourth acting UN chief to come to Bulgaria, which joined the UN 1955.

The first UN Secretary-General to visit Bulgaria was U Thant (1961-1971) from Burma (Myanmar) who was in Sofia in 1963.

His successor Kurt Waldheim (1972-1981) from Austria visited Bulgaria in 1973.

The visit in Sofia of UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, of Peru, in 1984, was especially remembered for his declaration that the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples proclaimed by St. Cyril and St. Methodius, the authors of the Slavic script, was actually enshrined in the UN Charter of Human Rights.

While the previous three UN Secretary-General visits to Bulgaria occurred during its communist dictatorship period, Ban Ki-moon is the first UN head to visit Bulgaria after its transition to democracy began in 1989.

In 2002, Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, who headed the world organization in 1992-1996, visited Sofia but in another capacity – as the Secretary-General of Francophonie.

After his meeting with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov in Sofia Thursday, May 5, UN head Ban Ki-moon pointed out he is especially proud to be the first acting UN Secretary-General to visit Bulgaria after its transition to democracy.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!