The Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy left on his first working visit to the US from Bucharest, where he attended the Ninth Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In Washington, Passy is scheduled to confer with acting US Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage and with the President's National Security Adviser Condolesa Rice. He will also deliver a lecture at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The officials will discuss NATO enlargement and the prospects for Bulgarian membership of the North Atlantic Alliance. Passy did not specify whether the US will demand bigger Bulgarian support for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.