site.bta45 Years since Zimbabwe's Independence and Establishment of Diplomatic Relations with Bulgaria

Forty-five years ago, the Republic of Zimbabwe proclaimed its independence, and diplomatic relations were established with Bulgaria.

A Bulgarian delegation, led by Politburo member and Deputy Chairman of the State Council Peko Takov, took part in the celebrations marking Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980. He presented a message from the Chairman of the State Council, Todor Zhivkov, to the President of the Republic, Canaan Banana, and to Prime Minister Robert Mugabe. In the message, the People's Republic of Bulgaria recognized the independence of Zimbabwe and proposed the establishment of diplomatic relations.

On April 23, 1980, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Zimbabwe in Salisbury, a communiqué was signed establishing diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Zimbabwe, effective April 18, 1980—the day of the proclamation of independence. The communiqué emphasized that both governments, driven by the desire to develop relations of friendship and cooperation based on equality and in accordance with the principles of mutual respect for independence, national sovereignty, and non-interference in internal affairs, decided to establish diplomatic relations and exchange diplomatic missions at the level of embassies.

Bulgaria opened its embassy in Salisbury and appointed Hristo Kolev as the first Bulgarian ambassador to Zimbabwe. He presented his credentials on December 12, 1980. Zimbabwe accredited its ambassador to Romania also to Bulgaria, who presented his credentials in Sofia on February 2, 1983.

From 1994, when Zimbabwe closed its embassy in Bucharest, and until 2005, there was no accredited diplomatic representative of Zimbabwe in Bulgaria. Since 1999, the Bulgarian embassy in Harare was led by a chargé d'affaires, and in 2012, the embassy's operations were officially discontinued.