Foreign Minister Stoev: Dialog with Republic of North Macedonia Is Priority

Restoring trust and stepping up bilateral dialogue with the Republic of North Macedonia feature among the priorities, outlined by caretaker Foreign Minister Svetlan Stoev at a news conference here on Tuesday. 

"We are open to dialogue. Our relations need consistency and constructive attitude in order to achieve sustainable and
irreversible results in the restoration of trust between the two  countries," said Stoev.
He recalled that President Stevo Pendarovski of North Macedonia will be part of a delegation to Rome together with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.

Another priority is related to Bulgaria's relations with NATO. Next week NATO foreign ministers will meet via video conference as part of preparations for a NATO summit scheduled in June.

The Foreign Ministry has other tasks to fulfill in parallel with  organizing the elections abroad, said Stoev. Bulgaria's foreign  policy and the main function of diplomacy is dialogue and the making of contacts and friends in the protection of national
interests. The motto of this caretaker government will be continuity and predictability, which is characteristic of diplomacy, added Stoev.

He presented his team, specifying that it consists of experts. On Tuesday Stoev presented his second deputy Zaritsa Dinkova. Yana Docheva will be head of his cabinet.

Foreign Minister Stoev called 'air piracy' an incident with a Ryanair aircraft, which was diverted and forced to land in Minsk, and raised the issue of passengers' personal data. 

"Such thing happens for the first time, this is air piracy, and I don't know if we are aware of the scale it may reach," said Stoev taking a journalist question.

"In addition to the forced landing, the question of...