Bulgaria has a large building stock abroad and for many years it has not been managed well. This conclusion was made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva in response to a question by BSP MP Kristian Vigenin during parliamentary scrutiny. She assured that the government is working to optimize the cost of building maintenance.

The Deputy Prime Minister has specified that for last year the cost of the Bulgarian diplomatic missions was BGN 6 mln. According to her, there are huge embassies with few working people in them that can be sold. Besides, there were also derelict buildings whose maintenance also cost money.

"There are buildings which are unused that generate a lot of costs. We have even received letters from the local authorities who are warning us. We have to optimize the building stock because we have properties that have been empty for 20 years and others where we still pay rent "added Zaharieva.

Bulgarian Embassy in Addis Ababa

She gave the example of the capital of Ethiopia Addis Ababa, where Bulgaria had a "huge embassy in which two people work". According to her, a small part of the building can be used to be used as an embassy and the rest to be sold, with the money being bought a new property abroad where the country pays a rent.

Zaharieva added that the Foreign Ministry already has an electronic program that manages its property abroad. In 2018 only one property was sold. It was in The Hague and has not been used since 2005. For it the country has taken 1.165 million euros.

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