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President Rosen Plevneliev: As a head of state, I have and will continue to work for stability

Regardless of the outcome of the presidential elections due on 6 November, I hope that Bulgaria will remain stable and will manage to prepare well for the challenges posed by the EU Presidency as from January 2018.  "For six months, Bulgaria will be the center of big politics in Europe. Sofia will concentrate the debate, as well as the making of responsible decisions on the EU's future in the conditions of a record-high number of crises", President Rosen Plevneliev said before the Bulgarians in New York, where he arrived on a working visit to attend the 71st Session of the UN General Assembly.

"As head of state, I have worked and will continue to work for stability. I hope that the presidential elections will help the people achieve broad representation. Each candidate should come up and state publicly how they intend to help the country's progress", the president commented on the occasion of the coming national vote.

The head of state called on the compatriots to exercise their right to vote in the elections for president and vice president. "In order to serve Bulgarians wherever they may be living in the world, the president had better rely on voter support from our compatriots abroad. Then you will have the right to exact from him".  This is how the head of state addressed the ethnic Bulgarian community in New York.

Before our compatriots, President Rosen Plevneliev recalled that working with the Bulgarians living across the world was a cause that the presidential institution had been committed to. "In difficult situations, I defended the voting rights of the expatriate Bulgarians. I initiated a referendum that entirely served the interest of the Bulgarians living across the world: you should be entitled to take part in shaping your motherland and in setting the agenda. This can only happen by online voting," the head of state pointed out. 

Rosen Plevneliev pointed out that Bulgaria had never before been so active on the international arena and had accordingly gained recognition. In 2016 alone, more than 25 heads of state are expected to visit the country, which is a relevant factor in the Balkans and in the EU. "Wherever I may happen to be  in the world, my first meetings have invariably been with the fellow Bulgarians," the head of state, who was guest of the Republic of Bulgaria's Consulate General in New York for the fifth time in a row, recalled.

"Bulgaria's battle for the top job on the planet, the post of UN Secretary General, is extremely difficult and unpredictable to date. We have a worthy candidate, and we are backing her in this hardest of all races," the president further told the members of the Bulgarian community.

To our compatriots in New York, the head of state said that he had fulfilled one of his major commitments: not to appoint former agents of the communist-era secret services as Bulgarian ambassadors abroad.

Rosen Plevneliev also highlighted the strategic partnership between Bulgaria and the United States, stressing on the progress in the work of the joint bilateral working groups on key priorities, including energy, defense, and the rule of law.

President Rosen Plevneliev will continue his visit to the United States until 23 September.  At the UN headquarters in New York, the Bulgarian head of state will attend the top-level events, where the focus of debate will be the issues of migration, humanitarian operations, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  The president will hold a number of bilateral talks with counterparts of his.