site.btaDeputy Defence Minister Iliev: There Are Conflicts and Crisis Daily, Making Security Environment Hard to Predict

Deputy Minister of Defence Radoslav Iliev said here on Wednesday that every day, there are conflicts and crises of various nature and scale, which make the security environment dynamic, difficult to predict, and completely different from the one countries are used to working with. He was speaking at the annual conference of the Rakovski National Defence College, which focused on "Enhancing National Resilience: Progress, Challenges, and the Way Forward."

According to Iliev, the topic is extremely relevant not only in the context of its dynamic development in recent years at NATO headquarters and the European Union, but also in the context of the geopolitical reality. A number of strategies have been developed within the EU, some of them completely new since the beginning of this year, the Deputy Minister noted.

The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, has appointed a director for resilience in her office. This director works and organizes specific meetings in various areas, Iliev noted. "All this must find its equivalent in our country – with the relevant points of contact, liaison officers and experts from various fields to work on these issues," Iliev added.

Wednesday's conference focused on the three dimensions of national resilience: national policies, public-private partnerships, and strengthening academic contributions. The main discussions at the forum were about Bulgaria's readiness to address contemporary challenges of various kinds, said the Ministry of Defence.