Bulgaria to ask Bush about proposed US anti-missile defence system

06/06/2007

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin says officials plan to ask a series of questions regarding the proposed US anti-missile defence system in Eastern Europe, when US President George W. Bush visits Sofia next week. At a news conference Tuesday (June 5th), Kalfin noted that the defence system, to be based in the Czech Republic and Poland, does not extend coverage to Bulgaria, leaving the NATO member "between the missile shield and a growing tension in Russia". Other topics of discussion are expected to be the lifting of visa requirements for Bulgarian nationals and efforts to free the five Bulgarian nurses on death row in Libya.

In other news, heavy rain and flooding has forced evacuations in the Sofia, Plovdiv and Pazardzhik districts. Early Wednesday, flooding forced authorities to close parts of the major Thrace Highway, as well as the Pazardzhik-Panagyurishte Road. (Monitor, Darik - 06/06/07; Bulgarian government website, BNR, Mediapool, Darik, DPA - 05/06/07)