site.btaUPDATED NATO Preparedness Highlighted at Launch of Exercise BULGARIA 2025

At the opening of the BULGARIA 2025 emergency management exercise at Erden Airfield, Interior Minister Daniel Mitov underlined that NATO’s security depends on the preparedness of its members, with stronger allies meaning a stronger Alliance. The exercise was presented as a key opportunity to enhance cooperation and joint work with partners, while also improving interoperability in disaster response.

NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Sekerinska, attending the event alongside Mitov, welcomed the strong regional participation and stressed the importance of building a more secure future across the Balkans.

"We enhance interoperability and cooperation in disaster response. Bulgaria is committed to strengthening resilience. That is why we did not hesitate to embrace the idea of hosting such an exercise," Minister Mitov said. 

He noted that an exercise of this scale and complexity helps us test and assess civil preparedness and response at all levels, identify gaps and prioritize improvements. "As you know well, NATO's emergency management field exercises are recognized worldwide as one of the most complex of high quality, resource intensive and operation-based exercises. They offer an excellent opportunity to increase civil preparedness and thus enhance resilience," he said. 

Resilience which is integral to NATO's deterrence and defense posture. Today's world is different from the one we used to know. Recent geopolitical developments put us in a delicate situation and led to dramatic shifts in the security landscape, the Interior Minister said. 

Mitov noted that peace is fragile and it cannot be taken for granted. "Allies need to have the capabilities to deal with the entire spectrum of crises that might affect them. Our governments, businesses and societies have been exposed to ever-increasing shocks," he said.

Climate change, critical infrastructure failures, vital services disruptions, cyber attacks, natural disasters, information manipulation campaigns, Mitov gave as examples. "But we can withstand all these challenges by maintaining our strong transatlantic unity and resolve. It is our duty to keep our people safe and secure, defend our territory and safeguard our freedom and democracy," Mitov stressed.

He emphasized that there are three guiding points. "First, we need public resilience, an informed society that knows how to act in emergencies. Second, all relevant stakeholders, government, local authorities, private sector, academia and civil society need to trust each other and work together in order to meet common security interests. In Bulgaria, for instance, the emergency response system is based on all hazards and this implies a whole of society and a whole of government approach with close public-private cooperation and civil-military interaction at the core. Moreover, in difficult and challenging cases when our capabilities are overwhelmed, we know that we are not alone and can rely on our allies and partners to lend a helping hand. I can assure you that in times of need you can count on us as well because solidarity and unity matter. Last but not least, security and stability come at a cost. We need sustainable, risk-informed investments to meet future challenges and rising public expectations, fully in line with the outcome of the most recent NATO summit where allies reaffirmed their commitment to Euro-Atlantic security and to investing at least 5% of GDP in defence. Part of these investments can be science and innovation related which will help us to deal with the wide range of challenges," Mitov said. 

In line with this, Bulgaria is already undertaking steps to foster the cooperation between start-up, small and medium-sized enterprises, international companies, universities and the government in defence and internal security domains. Finally, Bulgaria stands firmly with NATO. Together with the EADRCC, allies and partners, we will turn lessons from Bulgaria 2025 into concrete capabilities, strengthening cooperation and compliance, readiness and resilience to protect our people and infrastructure, the Interior Minister added.

He wished participants fruitful exercise and productive exchanges. "Together we are stronger. Together we are NATO," he said. 

NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Sekerinska congratulated her compatriots from North Macedonia on the country's holiday - Independence Day.

"It is really a double pleasure to join you here in Montana to open the NATO Exercise Bulgaria 2025. Firstly, because I come from this region, from the Balkans, and I am really happy to see so many of our neighbours, so many of the countries from the region, building a better and safer future. And secondly, because we are here today for a reason that is very close to my heart. Many nations working together to meet a common challenge," she said.

"Some of you may be surprised to see soldiers, firefighters, medics, but also scientists, coders, engineers and innovators coming together under NATO's flag like this, to prepare not for war, but for disasters, not to fight, but equally to save lives. Keeping our citizens safe has been the primary mission of our Alliance for more than 70 years now," Sekerinska noted. 

"Exercises like this are a concrete way to translate the major political decisions of our leaders into practical steps that keep our people safe. This is the 20th NATO Emergency Management Exercise and the first one hosted by Bulgaria. The countries of this region and Bulgaria including are no stranger to disasters, both natural and man-made. We are at the end of a very difficult summer for almost every country present here, with terrible forest fires throughout Europe. Some burned right here in Bulgaria and even more throughout the region. Since the start of this year, we have seen record heat, droughts, floods and storms across NATO allies and in many partner countries. But it is not only the weather that is dangerous. We live generally in a more dangerous world. In recent months, we have seen power blackouts across the Iberian Peninsula, cyber attacks in Estonia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States. We have witnessed sabotage against critical infrastructure. And of course, we are seeing every day the continuing terrible Russian war against Ukraine, claiming lives every day and threatening global security," Sekerinska said. 

"It is an honour to be with all of you, rescue workers from so many countries, supermen and superwomen who put your lives on the line to save the lives of others and who understand well the importance of preparedness, cooperation and solidarity in times like this. BULGARIA 2025 is an opportunity for you, first responders, to train together, learn from each other and get better at protecting our citizens in this dangerous world. You will exercise search and rescue, respond to chemical and radiological dangers, handling industrial incidents, crossing borders to help partners and neighbours, building bridges between civilian and military instruments of power, deploying new technologies and testing innovations for crisis response, making scientific discoveries also along the way, but in the same time also getting to know each other, learn from each other and bringing to life the strategic decisions taken by NATO's leaders. Minister Mitov, Chief Commissioner Dzhartov, thank you very much for hosting this exercise and many thanks to all of you who are making this possible. It shows Bulgaria's and all the participants steadfast commitment to our collective security in our Euro-Atlantic area," the NATO Secretary General noted.