Bulgarian President Radev: ‘Iran’s Hassan Rohani is extremely well-meaning’
During his visit to the United Nations in New York City, Bulgaria’s President Roumen Radev met with the Iranian President Hassan Rohani and King Abdullah of Jordan. After those encounters, Radev said it was very important for Bulgaria “to return to its economic and political positions in the Middle East”.
In the past 30 years, some politicians in Bulgaria had “wiped out the confidence of the countries in this region,” Radev said.
“Both Jordan and Iran have an excellent attitude towards the Bulgarian state,” he said. It was “a catastrophe in our policy” that Bulgaria had had bilateral trade with Iran amounting to $1 billion in the 1980s, while the volume in 2005 had been only $20 million.
“The potential for co-operation is enormous,” Radev said.
He said that Rohani was “extremely well-meaning, with great hope for Bulgaria”.
While Radev was recorded praising Rohani, Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin said it was unacceptable that Iran was gaining legitimacy while promoting the destruction of Israel. At an event on the eve of the Jewish new year’s celebration Rosh Hashanah, for diplomats at his residence in Jerusalem, Rivlin referred to countless recent threats of this kind, made by Iranian officials and generals.
US President Donald Trump was not positive about Iran either. At the UN General Assembly, he called the Iran nuclear deal an “embarrassment” to the United States, and “one of the worst and most one-sided agreements of its kind”.
Radev is scheduled to meet with Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko. Among other subjects, Radev intends to speak to him about the protection of the Bulgarian minority’s rights in Ukraine. “This is the most important issue that we will discuss and ask for the appropriate guarantees from President Poroshenko,” Radev said.
A reception by Trump for world leaders is also on Radev’s New York schedule.
Radev heads the Bulgarian delegation to the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly, accompanied by a delegation including Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva.
