The Commander of the Belgian Naval Component (COMOPSNAV) of the Armed Forces, Rear Admiral Jean-Paul Robyns, began an official visit to Bulgaria Wednesday. The visit is related to the logistic support of the Wielingen class frigates and the Tripartite class minehunter purchased from Belgium, the Chief of the Bulgarian Navy, Rear Admiral Plamen Manoushev, said.
An agreement for the logistic support of the ships will be signed between the two navies and the Bulgarian crews have been trained to operate the vessels, Manoushev added, explaining that during the Breeze exercise this year the frigate "Verni" and the minehunter "Tsibar" will pass first national level certification and next year they will pass second-level certification.
Taking a question, Manoushev stated that at least until 2014 there are no plans for buying other second-hand ships from Belgium. After that Bulgaria may eventually buy two minehunters as the Netherlands is about to decommission ships of this type from its navy and the price for them then could possibly be lower.
Divisional Admiral Jean-Paul Robyns pointed out that the Belgian Navy will continue to support its Bulgarian counterpart in the operation and maintenance of the frigates.
The Belgian guest is scheduled to meet the Mayor of Varna, Kiril Yordanov, and to visit the naval base there.
Belgian Ambassador here Mark Michielsen, who is accompanying Rear Admiral Robyns, said that Belgian investments in Bulgaria continue. One of the next ones will be in the region of Sofia and will target the development of agriculture, while the other, in the field of electronics, will be in Plovdiv (Southern Bulgaria). Investments are also planned for Agropolychim company in Devnya (Northeastern Bulgaria) and 150 million leva have already been invested this year in a new boiler for Solvay Sodi.
Although precise data are not available, last year Bulgaria was visited by some 90,000 Belgian tourists and now Belgian military will be coming to holiday here, the ambassador added.
