Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis, Chief of Hellenic National Defence General Staff, arrived on a three-day official visit to Bulgaria at the invitation of the Chief of Defence General Constantin Popov, the Defence Ministry in Sofia announced on Monday.

The two chiefs of defence discussed the state of and prospects for expanding military cooperation between Bulgaria and Greece, the ministry said in a statement.

During the talks, Popov and Apostolakis focused on the development of cooperation within regional initiatives to bolster stability and security in Southeastern Europe, including opportunities to strengthen direct ties between the Armed Forces, military schools, and logistics of Bulgaria and Greece.

The Greek defence chief is scheduled to visit Graf Ignatievo air base, as well as NATO Force Integration Unit Bulgaria (BGR NFIU) and the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) in Sofia 

NATO Force Integration Units are a part of the NATO Force Structure under the primary responsibility of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. The Bulgarian unit is one of the two NFIUs under the operational control of the Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy. The BGR NFIU is one of six first-wave NFIUs, inaugurated simultaneously with the NFIUs in Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, and Romania. 

The Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence in Sofia was established in 2013 by Poland and Greece as its sponsoring nations and Bulgaria as framework nation. The Centre?s aim is to pool expertise in order to improve interoperability, development and enhancement of NATO standards in building capacities for crisis management and disaster response.