Suzanne
15-03-06, 10:30 AM
The third and final round of consultations on U.S.-Bulgarian military facilities has been postponed to secure the approval of the council of the ruling coalition for key provisions of the future bilateral agreement.
The delay means the arrival of the U.S. negotiating team, led by ambassador Robert Loftis, has been pushed back to next week, Dnevnik learned from defence ministry sources.
The leaders of the three government coalition partners - BSP, NDSV and DPS, will have to agree by the end of the week on the maximum number of U.S. troops that will be deployed in Bulgaria and on whether Washington should be granted use of the Graf Ignatievo airport.
2,500 is the figure quoted most often for the likely numeric strength of the U.S. troops in Bulgaria. However, Bulgarian ambassador to NATO Lyubomir Ivanov has been quoted as saying that they could reach 3,500. Army sources explained the higher numeric strength with Washington's desire to use the Graf Ignatievo airport near Plovdiv.
In late 2005, the council discussed granting access to the U.S. troops to the Novo Selo training range and the Bezmer air base.
The bilateral agreement will state explicitly that the use of the military facilities should comply with the UN Charter.
The enforcement of the agreement will be supervised by a bilateral standing committee made up of representatives of the two states' defence ministries.
The legal status of the U.S. deployments will be governed by the NATO Status of Forces Agreement. This information was confirmed by parliamentary defence policy committee chairman Angel Naidenov. The future bilateral agreement will regulate the overall security and defence co-operation between the two countries not just the use of military facilities, said Naidenov.
(Dnevnik)
http://news.dnevnik.bg/
The delay means the arrival of the U.S. negotiating team, led by ambassador Robert Loftis, has been pushed back to next week, Dnevnik learned from defence ministry sources.
The leaders of the three government coalition partners - BSP, NDSV and DPS, will have to agree by the end of the week on the maximum number of U.S. troops that will be deployed in Bulgaria and on whether Washington should be granted use of the Graf Ignatievo airport.
2,500 is the figure quoted most often for the likely numeric strength of the U.S. troops in Bulgaria. However, Bulgarian ambassador to NATO Lyubomir Ivanov has been quoted as saying that they could reach 3,500. Army sources explained the higher numeric strength with Washington's desire to use the Graf Ignatievo airport near Plovdiv.
In late 2005, the council discussed granting access to the U.S. troops to the Novo Selo training range and the Bezmer air base.
The bilateral agreement will state explicitly that the use of the military facilities should comply with the UN Charter.
The enforcement of the agreement will be supervised by a bilateral standing committee made up of representatives of the two states' defence ministries.
The legal status of the U.S. deployments will be governed by the NATO Status of Forces Agreement. This information was confirmed by parliamentary defence policy committee chairman Angel Naidenov. The future bilateral agreement will regulate the overall security and defence co-operation between the two countries not just the use of military facilities, said Naidenov.
(Dnevnik)
http://news.dnevnik.bg/