国际英语新闻：Bulgaria, U.S. sign defense cooperation agreements

Agreements were signed Thursday in the Bulgarian Defence Ministry relating to the intergovernmental framework agreement on defense cooperation between Bulgaria and the United States, local press reported.

    The eleven agreements were signed by Deputy Chief of the Bulgarian General Staff Lt. Gen. Galimir Pehlivanov and U.S. European Command Deputy Commander Vice Adm. Richard K. Gallagher.

    The framework agreement was signed on April 26, 2006, over the use of Bulgarian military facilities as shared ones.

    The agreements are 12 in total. Work on the last one, concerning logistics, is still underway.

    The U.S. Congress has allocated more than 60 million dollars for construction works in the area of the New Village military training ground, U.S. Ambassador John Beyrle said after the signing of agreements, stressing that these shared facilities are Bulgarian bases under Bulgarian command and flag.

    The diplomat told the reporters that the first U.S. military personnel are expected to arrive in the shared facilities later in the year, after a joint exercise in the New Village planned for October.

    Bulgarian Defence Minister Vesselin Bliznakov said that the agreements signed Thursday ensure the enforcement of the framework accord and contribute to the modernization of the Bulgarian armed forces, although the documents were signed with a certain delay in schedule.

    Meeting Gallagher, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said that he highly appreciated the development of the Bulgarian-U.S. defense cooperation, noting that their relations developed very productively in all other spheres, the government's information service said in a press release later.

    They also discussed the political situation in the Western Balkans following the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence.