President Iliana Iotova said early on Wednesday, Bulgarian time, that she expected the European Union to play a greater role in resolving the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Iotova spoke to Bulgarian journalists in New York, where she is taking part in the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 81st annual session, which opened on Tuesday, Bulgarian time. Peace was the word she had heard most often during her meetings at the UN, she said.
Iotova heads the Bulgarian delegation. Her arrival in New York on Monday was delayed after her aircraft was diverted to Boston amid air traffic disruption in the northeastern United States. The disruption was caused by a fibre-optic cable severed during construction work in New Jersey.
She voiced concern that Europe had barely featured in Tuesday’s speeches at the UN. Europe, and the EU in particular, seemed to be taking a back seat, she added.
She said she expected many European leaders to address the issue on Wednesday. A peaceful resolution to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East required ambitious, firm and well-informed proposals from the EU, she added.
Iotova said she would discuss the war in Ukraine in her address. “This is a conflict in the heart of Europe. We cannot stand aside and say that the conflict is being resolved by Russia, Ukraine and the United States,” she said.
She hoped to meet High Representative for Gaza Nickolay Mladenov in New York to hear the latest on the next steps concerning the Gaza Strip.
Her UN address on Wednesday would cover the humanitarian dimension of the crisis, including the death of Captain Marin Marinov, a Bulgarian who was on a humanitarian mission there, she added.
The word she had heard most often at her UN meetings was “peace”, she said. All the leaders she had met so far had spoken of peace, rather than war, conflicts or crises, she added.
Iotova said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had offered “an extremely accurate diagnosis of the world we live in”: there had been 60 armed conflicts worldwide last year, the highest number since the Second World War. It was time to move beyond assessments, dialogue and discussion to concrete solutions, she added.
She called specifically for diplomacy and joint efforts to find solutions at the negotiating table. At the same time, she noted that the number of conflicts worldwide was the highest since the Second World War and that countries were arming themselves more heavily.
The UN was established after the Second World War, the deadliest war in human history, to prevent further conflicts.
Before the briefing, Iotova met Slovak President Peter Pellegrini, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder and King Abdullah II of Jordan.
She also attended an event on protecting children’s rights in the context of artificial intelligence (AI), focusing on the Coalition for Children’s Rights and Protection in the Age of AI as a means of taking practical action. The event was organized by France, Kenya, Spain and Australia.
Iotova told Bulgarian journalists in New York that she had briefed Turk in detail on the case of Iva Mihaylova in North Macedonia. He had assured her that he would address the case.
After the briefing, Iotova met Guterres. Both said negotiations were needed to end the war in Ukraine.
On Tuesday evening, New York time, Iotova attended a reception hosted by US President Donald Trump on the occasion of the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 81st session.
Iotova is due to address the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 81st session at around 21:00 Bulgarian time on Wednesday. That evening, she will meet members of the Bulgarian community in New York at Bulgaria’s Consulate General in the city.
President Iotova Expects Greater EU Role in Resolving Ukraine, Middle East Conflicts 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-23 04:55:51
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