Sofia, Dec 2 (BTA/GNA) – Opening the Foreign Ministry’s Open Day for Students on Saturday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel said: “We often say that investing in young people is investing in the future. I believe that an investment in young people is an investment in the present.”
“If we are not clearly aware of our identity, history, the path Bulgaria has travelled, we could hardly have an adequate view of the present, of what is happening and of Bulgaria’s power as a driving force in shaping its own future and that of Europe and the world,” Gabriel said.
“Today the Foreign Ministry is telling you: we need you,” the Foreign Minister told the students. “We need your ideas, energy, critical thinking, vision for the present and the future.”
“We are all aware that we are witnessing a new era of digitalization, climate change and ever-emerging conflicts. This is where Bulgaria and the Foreign Ministry need a new generation of diplomats,” Gabriel said. She called diplomacy “the noblest cause for a peaceful and just world”.
Bulgaria with its new generation is innovative, creative, strong, bold, critical, the Foreign Minister said. “I want to show that Bulgaria is a factor of development in this part of Europe and the world in an innovative way.”
She called on the students to be the Foreign Ministry’s allies, “so that together we can make Brand Bulgaria a regional innovative leader, a Bulgaria that brings security and stability, a Bulgaria that can be relied on as a reliable partner”.
Gergana Kutelova, a student at the St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, asked what opportunities the Foreign Ministry offers young people and how Gabriel became Bulgaria’s chief diplomat. “Even when I was studying in a foreign-language school, it was my dream to work in international relations,” the student said.
Polina Doseva, a student of Security and Defence at the G.S. Rakovski National Defence Academy, was impressed with the Foreign Ministry building and said it looked like a very good place to work.
The Open Day is mottoed “The Foreign Ministry Wants You”. It is organized in partnership with the Bulgaria Wants You platform of TV producers Ivan Hristov and Andrey Arnaudov and the European Commission Representation in Sofia. The initiative aims to introduce young people interested in diplomacy to the work of Bulgarian diplomats and to present Bulgaria’s foreign policy priorities.
BTA/GNA