site.btaB9 Summit to Be Attended by 15 Heads of State and Senior Officials, Including Bulgaria's Permanent Representative to NATO

Fifteen heads of State and senior officials will travel to Bucharest for the Summit of the Bucharest Nine (B9) Format and the Nordic countries on May 13. The forum will be co-chaired by Romanian President Nicusor Dan and Polish President Karol Nawrocki, according to the Romanian presidential administration, and will take place at Cotroceni Palace under the overarching theme of "Delivering More for Transatlantic Security".

Bulgaria will be represented by its Permanent Representative to NATO, Nikolay Milkov. 

The discussions will bring together NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several European leaders, including Presidents Petr Pavel of Czechia, Alexander Stubb of Finland, Peter Pellegrini of Slovakia, Edgars Rinkevics of Latvia, Alar Karis of Estonia and Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania. Also attending will be Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide and Iceland's Permanent Secretary at the Prime Minister's Office Benedikt Arnason

The US will be represented by Thomas DiNanno, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Hungary will be represented by its ambassador to Bucharest.

The summit is seen as a key moment for shaping a common position on air defence and military mobility in the region. The B9 format brings together nine NATO eastern flank countries (Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Czechia) and was launched in 2015 by Romania and Poland to strengthen regional security cooperation within NATO following Russia's annexation of Crimea.