SOFIA, Bulgaria (BulgarianMilitary.com) – Yesterday, a Bulgarian delegation, headed by the Deputy Minister of Defence Atanas Zapryanov, has arrived in Brussels, Belgium in order to take part at a two-day joint session of the EU Foreign Affairs and Foreign Affairs (Defence) Councils, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.

The indicative program of the event, which is taking place on 19 and 20 November with the participation of the Defence Ministers and the Foreign Ministers of the EU member states, in general includes two separate meetings of the EU Foreign Affairs Council and the EU Foreign Affairs Council (Defence) as well as a joint session of Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers (Roundtable). There, the participating EU Ministers are discussing issues related to the EU cooperation in security and defence and the initiatives of the implementation of the EU Global Strategy in this area.

Read more: Bulgarian Deputy Defence Minister Spoke about EU Defence Initiatives at The Economist Magazine Conference

The agenda of yesterday’s joint session of the EU Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers involved discussions on security and defence issues, including the permanent structured cooperation (PESCO), the European Defence Fund, the coordinated annual review on defence (CARD) and military mobility. The members are also expected to have approved and a new, second set of PESCO projects, which includes the Bulgarian project proposal for Deployable Modular Underwater Intervention Capability Package – DIVEPACK. The project has been developed by the Bulgarian Navy and is identified as a priority for building the EU’s defense capabilities.

Today, before the EU Foreign Affairs Council (Defence) meeting, the steering board of European Defence Agency is set to held a session under the chairmanship of Federica Mogherini, the Head of the Agency. During it, the ministers are expected to approve the proposed Agency’s 2019 general budget, which reflects the increasing demands on the EDA and the new tasks, deriving from the new PESCO and CARD (Coordinated Annual Review on Defence ) initiatives. The discussion involves the CARD trial run and the three-year planning framework 2019-2021, which is set to be also approved within the meeting.

Read more: The Bulgarian Dep. MoD Zapryanov is Among the New Chairs for the EDA Steering Boards

After that, the EU Defence Ministers are scheduled to have their own session in order to discuss NATO-EU cooperation and the latest developments in this collaboration, in the presence of the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

The Belgian joint session of the Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers, will conclude with talks on the EU’s missions and operations under the Common Security and Defence Policy.

Follow us everywhere and at any time. BulgarianMilitary.com has responsive design and you can open the page from any computer, mobile devices or web browsers. For more up-to-date news from us, follow our Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ pages. Do not miss the chance to subscribe to our newsletter.

BulgarianMilitary.com

Source: MoD of the Republic of Bulgaria