February 9, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Department Counselor Derek Chollet Visits Sofia for Strategic Bilateral Dialogue
On Tuesday, February 8, Derek Chollet, Counselor of the U.S. Department of State, led a delegation of senior U.S. officials to Sofia as part of a multi-country trip to engage with U.S. partners and allies on a range of strategic issues.
During his visit to Bulgaria, Mr. Chollet was honored to meet with Deputy Prime Minister Assen Vassilev, Minister of Defense Stefan Yanev, and Foreign Minister Teodora Genchovska.
Mr. Chollet and his Bulgarian hosts discussed a broad range of issues, strategizing how our two countries can build on our robust people-to-people ties; boost our shared prosperity and security; and continue our close transatlantic coordination in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The visit continues the bilateral Strategic Dialogue which launched in January 2020.
Mr. Chollet hailed the results of his talks with members of the Bulgarian government, saying: “We welcome the ambitious agenda of the new Bulgarian government and look forward to supporting them as they tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, corruption, climate change, energy diversification, and other key issues.“
While in Sofia, Mr. Chollet also was able to experience some of Sofia’s rich cultural heritage and enjoyed learning about the history of Bulgaria.