Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi hosted the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Yekaterina Zahariava, at his Jerusalem office during her visit to Israel.
During their meeting, Ashkenazi related to his Bulgarian counterpart something of his family history and of how his father, who was born in the Bulgarian town of Plovdiv, managed to escape from a concentration camp during the Second World War. Ashkenazi also expressed his gratitude to the Bulgarian Foreign Minister for preventing the anti-Semitic Lukov March from proceeding, and requested that she take a personal interest in the preservation of the synagogue in the town of Borgas.
The two ministers also discussed advancing ties between their countries, various security and economic projects that they could potentially collaborate on, and also on the reopening of the skies and encouraging tourism. The ministers then signed a memorandum of understanding toward cooperation in the field of energy.