Bulgaria's President Lands in Afghanistan on Surprise Visit
Diplomacy | February 29, 2012, Wednesday // 14:01| viewsAfghanistan's President Hamid Karzai (left) has welcomed his Bulgarian counterpart Rosen Plevneliev (right) who arrived in Kabul Wednesday on a surprise visit. Photo by EPA/BGNES
Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has unexpectedly arrived on a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Plevneliev's trip to Afghanistan is his second official state visit abroad after his inauguration on January 22, 2012, when he replaced two-term Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov. Plevneliev's first foreign visit was to Brussels.
The Bulgarian President was received immediately by the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai.
According to the Bulgarian Presidency, Plevneliev has expressed Bulgaria's desire to build a hospital in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, and the Afghan authorities have promised to provide the land.
Plevneliev has also told Karzai he is to encourage Bulgarian companies to work more actively with Afghanistan, and that the last few months have seen rising interest among Bulgarian firms wishing to do business with Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has expressed interest in sending Afghan students to Bulgarian universities to study medicine, architecture, and engineering, and the Bulgarian President has vowed support for that.
Cooperation between Bulgaria and Afghanistan on illegal drug trafficking, and illegal immigration, as well as the work of the Bulgarian military mission in Afghanistan with the NATO-led ISAF operation have also been topics on Plevneliev and Karzai's agenda.
Bulgaria has some 600 troops in Afghanistan guarding the airports in Kabul and Kandahar, and a medical unit in the Herat province.
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