With the intention to strengthen the ties between Belize and Bulgaria, a special meeting was held last week Monday, March 19th with Bulgarian diplomat Dr. Solomon Passy and Belize’s Foreign Minister and Attorney General Wilfred Elrington. Other attendees at the meeting were Maxim Minchev, Director General for the Bulgarian News Agency www.bta.bg, Kiril Asenov, Bulgarian Businessman, Clinton “Pulu” Lightburn, Belizean public figure and Sjoerd Jan van Noord of Portofino Beach Resort.
This was the first meeting at such a level between Belize and Bulgaria in the nearly 20-year history of diplomatic relations between the two countries. According to Dr. Passy, there were a number of different issues discussed, including “bilateral cooperation, with a very strong emphasis on the exchange of Tourism between both countries…[we] see a huge opportunity in increasing tourism in both directions…[we] have to stress on this most obvious avenue…”
Investment in the Belize tourism industry by Bulgarian stakeholders, with the provision of their know-how was also discussed. Bulgaria is very much a tourism oriented country, with a population of around 7.5 million, and approximately 10 million tourists visiting the country annually. Other possibilities include investments in renewable energy sources. “We also discussed some multilateral formats like cooperation with the European Union and with the NATO organization for security and cooperation in Europe,” said Dr. Passy.
With hopes for a strengthening of the diplomatic relations between both countries, Dr. Passy invited Minister Elrington and Belize Tourism Board delegates to visit Bulgaria and follow up on the meeting held on Monday.
Bulgaria’s Foreign Minister was also consulted and is expected to follow up on the contents of the meeting.
Dr. Solomon Passy’s Career:
Special Adviser to the Macedonian Government on NATO accession
Chairman of the Transparency and Accountability Committee of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 40th National Assembly
Chairman of the Bulgaria–USA caucus of the 40th National Assembly
MP, National Movement Simeon II
Previous Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg (2001-2005)
