Obama Hosts Bulgaria PM, Burgas Terror Attack Tops Agenda

Bulgarian PM, Boyko Borisov, and US President, Barack Obama, have already met in person during a summit in Prague in 2010. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, is about to confer on December 3 with US President, Barack Obama, at the White House in Washington DC.

The Bulgarian PM is the first European leader to be accepted by Obama during his second term in office after his reelection on November 6.

According to the official White House press release, Obama and Borisov will discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues, including the Eastern European country's participation in NATO operations in Afghanistan.

Obama is also "looking forward" to receiving updates on Bulgaria's investigation into the July 18, 2012 terrorist attack in Burgas.

Israel has already blamed Hezbollah for the July 18 attack. However, the Balkan country has refused to point a finger at any person or organization before garnering enough evidence.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson, Vesela Cherneva, further informed that the main topics will include defense, security, energy, NATO missions, and the situation in Syria and the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian Trud (Labor) daily wrote Sunday, citing own insider sources, that Borisov will bestow to Obama replicas of the world-famous gold Thracian treasures as part of the gifts brought by the Bulgarian delegation.

The Cabinet's press office has declined offering any details on grounds it would be a sign of "bad taste" to make public the list of presents.

The insider sources say the replicas will be from the Panagyurishte Gold Treasure, but will be smaller and not made of gold, but of silver or copper with gold plating – the latter confirmed by former Minister for Bulgarians Abroad and Director of the National History Museum, Bozhidar Dimitrov.

Borisov has already given as gifts Thracian treasure replicas to his Japanese, Lebanese, and Serbian counterparts, to the Austrian Federal Chancellor and to Brazilian President with Bulgarian roots, Dilma Rousseff.

The exchange of gift is traditional for diplomatic protocols.

The Bulgarian delegation includes Borisov's Deputy, Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov (who first arrived in the US for a series of security talks), Foreign Affairs Minister, Nikolay Mladenov, and Defense Minister, Anyu Angelov.

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