Bulgaria and Belgium share a common system of democratic values

H.E. Mr. Emil Valev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria to Belgium

Emil Valev was born on August 20, 1956 in Sofia. He got his secondary education at the English-language Secondary School and later graduated in International Relations at the University for National and World Economy. He completed a specialization course at the Klingendal Institute for International Relations in The Hague. During his 20-year diplomatic career, he has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Bulgarian diplomatic missions abroad. Since 2002 he has been Bulgaria’s ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Dukedom of Luxembourg.

He is head of the Bulgarian mission to NATO (from March 2004 he is a permanent representative to the Northatlantic Council).

He is married with two children.

Your Excellency, on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Bulgarian-Belgian diplomatic relations, would you share your views on what aspects of these relations are irreversible and what should be changed? It so turned out that the Turnovo Constitution, which was made after the Belgian one, was repealed while Belgian institutions show continued improvement…
I’ll start with a little history. On December 16, 1879, the first diplomatic agent and consul general of Belgium, Camille Janssen, in Sofia presents his Letters of Credence to Prince Alexander of Battenberg and in his very first diplomatic reports to the Belgian Foreign Ministry he states his satisfaction with “one of the most liberal and democratic constitutions in Europe, remarkably resembling the Belgian” that has been adopted by the young Bulgarian state.

Actually, immediately after the Liberation, Bulgaria sees in the development of the young Belgian Kingdom, established in 1830, a liberal model concurrent with its own aspirations to Europe. In 1894 the then Prime Minister Konstantin Stoilov, declares his will to turn Bulgaria into “Belgium of the Orient”. Gradually a potential is built up for materializing this ambition: hundreds of Bulgarians study law, engineering, finance, medicine, fine arts in the universities of Brussels, Gent, Antwerp, Bruges, after which they work for the recovery of the Bulgarian state. Belgian experts collaborate with their Bulgarian colleagues in the construction of the first tram lines and railways, Belgian lawyers give advice to Bulgarian statesmen and politicians when the principles and standards of the lawful state were formulated, when the foundations of administrative and civil law were laid, and the architecture of a functioning state worked out. It is no chance that the builders of these two modern societies were inspired by the same motto: “Unity brings strength”. Economic relations were not lagging behind. At the turn of the last century, Belgium is one of the leading trade partners of Bulgaria.

A legend that still lives today was born at that time – about the “curious but absolutely real Bulgarian-Belgian affinity”, a phenomenon that is readily noted by politicians, researchers and intellectuals from both nations. We are witnesses to a longstanding closeness between the two countries, i.e. a closeness that despite the vicissitudes of life has not only preserved its vitality today but continues to grow.

Numerous are the proofs of the resilience of this traditional closeness, which acquires even clearer dimensions and guarantees the excellent state of our bilateral relations. The dialogue between Bulgaria and Belgium is intensively developing at all levels: only for the past three years the heads of state have had five meetings, including the first ever visit of Albert II King of Belgium to Bulgaria; the two Prime Ministers have regular talks at international and party fora, the Foreign Ministers maintain active work contacts, line ministers exchange working visits and meet at various international events.

Useful scientific exchange has been going on for the recent years as well. Less that a month ago, at the embassy we marked with a special session the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Cooperation Agreement between the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the scientific community of Wallonia. There, scientists from the two countries talked about their experience in implementing Bulgarian-Belgian projects and underlined that that was the only way to guarantee Bulgaria its successful return to Europe. There have been good contacts between our parliaments as well – there is a signed Agreement for Cooperation. Quite recently, in the beginning of November, the Chairman of the House of Representatives of the Belgian Parliament, Mr. Herman De Croo, a very influential and highly respected politician, was on a state visit to Bulgaria.

Belgium is an important economic partner of Bulgaria and a leading investor, thus promoting the development of a functioning market economy in our country. I would like to point out that by the total amount of investments in Bulgaria, comparatively small Belgium ranks fifth among the foreign investors, and as regards creation of jobs, it does take the lead. The Belgian business community in Bulgaria is well integrated here, seizes every opportunity to support the positive developments in the economy and appreciates the efforts the Bulgarians invest in overcoming the hardships in their changing lives.