UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon praised the work of Bulgarian officials in the Organisation to President Rosen Plevneliev. In all of the UN structures, about 30 Bulgarians are employed, some at very high positions. On the final day of the “Rio+20” UN Conference on Sustainable Development in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, President Rosen Plevneliev met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova.
President Plevneliev congratulated Ban Ki-moon on his personal contribution to reforming the UN, increasing its efficiency, and improving co-ordination among the activities of individual agencies in the organization. Secretary-General Ban welcomed Bulgaria's active participation in the work of the UN and shared his excellent impressions of his visit to the country in May last year.
Earlier, President Rosen Plevneliev participated in a roundtable discussion, "the UN system - together for the future we want", which took place within the “Rio+20” UN Conference on Sustainable Development. It was attended by the leaders of all UN agencies.
Bulgaria is to intensify in the short term the work of the UNESCO Regional Centre for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Southeast Europe, President Plevneliev told UNESCO Director-General Bokova. During her meeting with the Bulgarian Head of State, Irina Bokova appealed to the country to make concrete proposals for registration of new sites inscribed on the UNESCO list to safeguard the intangible cultural heritage. At the moment Bulgaria has only “Bistritsa Babi” and the Nestinarstvo fire-dancing rite registered there.