Foreign policy of Bulgaria

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Bulgaria is generally in good relations with its neighbours and has proven itself as a constructive factor in the Balkans. A supporter of regional stability, Bulgaria hosts a meeting of foreign ministers from Southeast Europe in July 1996 and an OSCE conference on Black Sea cooperation in November 1995. Bulgaria also participated in the meeting of the Southern Balkans military ministers in Albania in 1996. It is active in the Southeast Europe Cooperation Initiative.

Due to their close historical, cultural and economic ties, Bulgaria seeks mutually beneficial relations with Russia, which is highly dependent as a source of energy supplies. After sporadic negotiations (over 10 years) between Greece, Bulgaria and Russia in early 2007, a contract for construction of an oil pipeline from Burgas to the Black Sea to Alexandroupolis of the Aegean Sea was concluded to transport Russian oil.

The first act of independent foreign policy since the beginning of democratic changes is Bulgaria's accession to the coalition for the release of Kuwait from Iraqi occupation and the decision of the VII Grand National Assembly of 1990 to send a limited military contingent to the Gulf region.

The country's EU accession process began with the decision of the VII VNS for full membership of Bulgaria in the Union (then European Communities), adopted on 22 December 1990. Bulgaria's Association Agreement with the European Union entered into force in 1994 and the country formally applied for full membership in December 1995. In 1999 at the EU's highest level meeting in Helsinki Bulgaria was invited to begin membership negotiations in the Union. They were completed in 2004 and 1 January 2007 was defined as a date for Bulgaria's accession to the European Union.

In 1996 Bulgaria joined the Vasenaar Agreement on Arms Export Control and Sensitive Technologies for Problem Countries. In the same year it was accepted into the World Trade Organisation. Bulgaria is also a member of the Zanger Committee and of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

In 1994 Bulgaria joined NATO's Partnership for Peace initiative. After a period of delay in March 1997, Stefan Sofianski's provisional government applied for full NATO membership. At the NATO summit in Prague in 2002, Bulgaria was invited to join the Alliance, which became a reality in April 2004. Negotiations are being held with the US on possible deployment of US military bases and training camps in Bulgaria as part of the US Army restructuring plan.

Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia signed a Joint Declaration on 22 February 1999 setting out the principles of good neighbourly relations agreed between the two countries. The declaration was reaffirmed by a joint memorandum signed on 22 January 2008 in Sofia as well as by the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborhood and Cooperation between the two countries, signed on 1 August 2017.

In 2003 Bulgaria has chosen