Minister of National Defence N. Dendias Visits Bulgaria

Minister of National Defence N. Dendias Visits Bulgaria

March 12, 2026

Today, Thursday 12 March 2026, the Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, visited Sofia upon invitation of his Bulgarian counterpart Atanas Zapryanov.

During his visit, the Greek Minister was received by the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Andrey Gurov.

Mr. Dendias then went to the Ministry of Defence of Bulgaria, where, after the official reception, he met with his counterpart. During the meeting, both countries stressed their common will for deeper defence cooperation, particularly in the area of innovation. It was agreed that there are great prospects for cooperation, particularly within the framework of the SAFE Regulation, for the development of the defence industry in the European Union.

During the joint statements after the meeting, the Minister of National Defence stated the following:

"Dear Minister Zapryanov Atanas,

I would like to warmly thank you for your invitation to come to Sofia and for the honour of being received by the Prime Minister, Mr. Andrey Gyurov.

I had come to Sofia twice as Minister of Foreign Affairs. It is my great pleasure to come for the third time as Minister of National Defence and I am also glad that we have a nice weather. I believe that it also means something about our relations.

I think you know that we believe in the European dimension of our relations with Bulgaria. Through the "Thessaloniki Agenda 2003", we were one of the first supporters of Bulgaria becoming a member of the European Union.

And of course, it is our pleasure to cooperate with you now in the area of defence. We believe that it was our obligation to respond, dear Atanas, to you request - to Bulgaria's request - to assist in the countering of threats that Bulgaria is facing due to the war in Iran.

And I am proud and happy that a PATRIOT battery is covering a significant part of Bulgarian airspace from missile threats and a pair of Greek F-16 covers all of the Bulgarian airspace, from any other threat, including drones.

Furthermore, I have sent two senior officers for coordination with the Operations Centre of the Bulgarian Armed Forces.

Today, we discussed many and interesting things, beyond the current crisis.

First of all, as was said by my Bulgarian counterpart, on the issue of mobility. Indeed, the Ministries of Transportation are primarily responsible, but it is also of interest to the Defence Ministries.

There are two letters bearing my signature for the expansion of the pipeline network and the creation of a recognised military corridor, in fact, dear Atanas, the second one bears your signature too.

We agreed to do what we can together, to coordinate our efforts with our Romanian colleagues, in order to complete what must be done as soon as possible.

We also discussed the issue of innovation in Defence and the SAFE Regulation. I believe that the SAFE Regulation needs a reform in view of SAFE II. I am glad we had the same views on this issue, on how we can communicate within the framework of the Council of Ministers, so that, when talking with the European Commission, we can have a more effective framework for the enhancement of the European defence ecosystem and the European innovation ecosystem.

We, in Greece, implement an agenda which we name "Agenda 2030" for the overall reform of the Hellenic Armed Forces, within a holistic approach which we name

"Achilles' Shield". Part of this holistic approach is the "Kentavros" anti-drone system, which we already use. It is currently in the Red Sea and off the coast of Cyprus. However, we are generally interested in cooperation with the Bulgarian innovation ecosystem, within the framework of this reform.

Our countries are not "large countries", consequently, the communication between the defence innovation ecosystems has much to offer to Greece and Bulgaria, but also to Europe.

Thank you once more for the warm welcome. I am very happy to be here in Sofia to continue our talks during the working lunch that will follow. *

Thank you indeed."