Vice Admiral Georgi Fidanov
Military Representative – Bulgaria
2015
Vice Admiral Georgi FIDANOV was born on June 23, 1960 in the town of Targovishte. He graduated from the Vaptzarov Naval Academy in Varna, specializing in maritime navigation and tactical command at sea. He has also completed the Adm. Kuznetzov Naval Staff College in St. Petersburg, Russia (1993) and the Naval Command College in Newport, Rhode Island, USA (2004).
His professional career began in 1983 at the 10th Fast Patrol Boat (FPB) Brigade in Sozopol undertaking various duties, from naval gunnery officer to commanding officer of a missile boat. In 1989, he became the first commanding officer of the newly acquired missile corvette in the same unit. Other command appointments include Chief of Staff and Squadron Commander of the 10th FPB Squadron (1993 – 1997), Deputy Chief of Staff, and Chief of Staff of the 10th Light Forces Naval Brigade (former FPB Brigade) (1997 - 2002), Deputy Chief of Staff, Deputy Commander on Training, and Chief of Staff of the Bourgas Naval Base (2002 - 2007).
Following his successful career at the Bourgas Naval Base, he was promoted to Assistant Chief of Staff for training at the Navy HQ (2007). In July 2009 he was promoted in the rank of Commodore and took over the position Director of Strategic Planning Directorate in the Defence Staff, Ministry of Defence (2009). In April 2012 he was appointed as Military Adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Armed Forces - the President of the Republic of Bulgaria and in May 2014 he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.In October 2015 he took over the position of Bulgarian Military Representative to NATO and EU and as first of May 2016 he was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral.
VADM Fidanov participated in two missions - NATO's Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOR (2006) and the UN Mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL MAROPS (2006) as a senior national representative aboard the Bulgarian frigate DRUZKI. He also participated in numerous national and international naval and joint exercises.
During his career he completed various specialization courses at the US Coast Guard in Yorktown, Virginia, the US Navy base in San Diego, California, the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany.
He has been awarded the medals “For Meritorious Service under the Colours” Grades I and II, “For Mission Participation”, and “10 Years since the accession of Bulgaria to NATO”.
Fluent in English and Russian.
VADM Fidanov and his wife Mima have two children and two grandchildren.