{"id":10936,"date":"2010-12-09T10:03:15","date_gmt":"2010-12-09T09:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/117-field-study-on-regional-approaches-visit-to-sofia-bulgaria\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T08:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T07:55:10","slug":"117-field-study-on-regional-approaches-visit-to-sofia-bulgaria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/117-field-study-on-regional-approaches-visit-to-sofia-bulgaria\/","title":{"rendered":"117 Field Study on Regional Approaches; visit to Sofia, Bulgaria"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/117FS3_Bulgaria_1_1.jpg\" alt=\"Rakovski National Defence Academy Commandant Major General Gorgijev welcomes NDC Senior Course 117\" \/><figcaption>Rakovski National Defence Academy Commandant Major General Gorgijev welcomes NDC Senior Course 117<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">Senior Course 117 continued their Regional Approach Field Study with a visit to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, on Tuesday 7 December. In the morning, NDC staff and course members travelled to the <a href=\"http:\/\/rdsc.md.government.bg\/EN\/About\/Akademi\/welk.php\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Rakovski NDA Web Site\">Rakovski National Defence Academy (NDA)<\/a> where they were welcomed by the Commandant, Major General Gorgijev.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">The first lecture, on the theme of Bulgaria&#8217;s foreign policy priorities and its relations with NATO, the European Union and Russia, was delivered by <a class='photo' href='\/images\/117FS3_Bulgaria_2_2.jpg' rel='lightbox' title=\"Ambassador Lubomir Ivanov delivers first lecture on Bulgaria's foreign policy priorities and its relations with NATO, the European Union and Russia\">Ambassador Lubomir Ivanov<\/a> from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ambassador identified Bulgaria&#8217;s main foreign policy priority as energy security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">The next speaker, Brigadier General Stefan Ynev, the Director of the Defence Planning Policy Directorate of the Bulgarian Ministry of Defence (MOD), gave an overview of defence policy. He highlighted the budgetary challenges facing the country as a direct result of the global financial crisis, and then delineated Bulgaria\u2019s resourcing strategy for implementing defence reforms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">He was followed by Commodore Georgi Fidanov (N), the Director of the Strategic Planning Directorate of the Bulgarian MOD, who explained the \u201cTransformation of The Bulgarian Armed Forces\u201d and presented the current and future structure of the headquarters. He also illustrated Bulgaria&#8217;s contribution to international security.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">The morning session ended with a most informative presentation by Lieutenant Colonel Hicolay Kocev that focused on the Bulgarian National Defence Academy: its structure and tasks. This was followed by a short Q&#038;A session and the <a class='photo' href='\/images\/117FS3_Bulgaria_3_2.jpg' rel='lightbox' title=\"Exchange of gifts between NDC Commandant LtGen Wolf-Dieter Loeser and Rakovski NDA Commandant MajGen Gorgijev\">exchange of gifts<\/a> between the two Commandants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">In the afternoon, course members visited the Bulgarian parliament where they were briefed by Mr Dimitrov, Chairmen of the Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee, on a number of topics on the committee&#8217;s agenda. Mr Dimitrov was then joined by three fellow committee members for a long and very interesting <a class='photo' href='\/images\/117FS3_Bulgaria_4_2.jpg' rel='lightbox' title=\"Chairmen of the Defence and Foreign Affairs Committee Mr Dimitrov (center) and other three relevant Committee members with NDC Commandant (center right) during the Q&#038;A session\">Q&#038;A session<\/a>. The panel of distinguished speakers answered a series of challenging questions posed by the course members and an informative and lively discussion followed. The course members then visited the Bulgarian Parliament and prior to departure, NDC Commandant Lt General Loeser thanked Mr. Dimitrov and all the other participants for their contribution to the visit and wished them every success. <\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">The visit to Sofia ended with a reception hosted by Major General Jordan Jordanov and Vice Admiral Kavaldjiev, Deputy Chiefs of Staff. This special evening gave course members an excellent opportunity to interact with Bulgarian officials and officers in a relaxed and cordial atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">SC 117 continue the Field Study with a visit to Algeria on 9 December <\/p>\n<p class=\"eplus-wrapper\">\n<p class=\"FooterSignature\" >NDC Public Affairs Office<\/p>\n<p class='just'>\n<br \/>More about the Field Study:<\/p>\n<p><span style='padding-left:25px;'><a href='\/fr\/news\/current_news.php\/?icode=227'>First stop &#8211; Romania<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span style='padding-left:25px;'><a href='\/fr\/news\/current_news.php\/?icode=224'>Second part &#8211; Armenia<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span style='padding-left:25px;'><a href='\/fr\/news\/current_news.php\/?icode=229'>Third  leg &#8211; T\u00fcrkiye<\/a><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rakovski National Defence Academy Commandant Major General Gorgijev welcomes NDC Senior Course 117 Senior Course 117 continued their<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"post_badge":[],"class_list":["post-10936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"NDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/author\/admin_3rwqf6tj\/"},"modified_by":null,"author_meta":{"display_name":"NDC","author_link":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/author\/admin_3rwqf6tj\/"},"featured_img":null,"featured_image_urls":{"full":"","thumbnail":"","medium":"","medium_large":"","large":"","1536x1536":"","2048x2048":"","trp-custom-language-flag":"","morenews-featured":"","morenews-large":"","morenews-medium":""},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/category\/news\/\" rel=\"category tag\">News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":0,"coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/category\/news\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">News<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">News<\/span>"]}},"relative_dates":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 16 ans il y a","modified":"Mis \u00e0 jour 6 mois il y a"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 le d\u00e9cembre 9, 2010","modified":"Mise \u00e0 jour le janvier 15, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Publi\u00e9 le d\u00e9cembre 9, 2010 10:03","modified":"Mise \u00e0 jour le janvier 15, 2026 08:55"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10936"},{"taxonomy":"post_badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ndc.nato.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_badge?post=10936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}