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OANA LUNGESCU (NATO Spokesperson): Good morning. The Secretary General will start with a few short words of introduction, and of course, the Bulgarian president also, and then we have time for a few questions.

Secretary General.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN (Secretary General of NATO): Good morning. Mr. President, it is indeed a great pleasure to welcome you to NATO Headquarters, and a particular pleasure to do it so early in your mandate. The fact that you have chosen to make this journey during your first days in office is a clear sign of your commitment to our Alliance, and I very much welcome that.

Bulgaria is an important NATO ally. You are an anchor of security in southeastern Europe. You have provided valuable contributions to our efforts in Afghanistan, in Kosovo and in protecting the people of Libya, and you provide valuable insight in the debate on how to make our Alliance smarter, leaner and more effective.

This will be an important year for NATO and Bulgaria can further play an important role in it. In less than four months time we will hold a Summit in Chicago where we will have to shape an Alliance which is capable of overcoming the economic crisis of today, while still guaranteeing security for tomorrow.

We must make sure that our Alliance stays committed to our shared security and our shared values. We must stay capable of dealing with current threats and future crises, and we must become more connected with partners around the world; partners who also share our values and our determination to protect them.

Bulgaria is already helping to realize those ambitions. You take part in our multinational programs to provide heavy transport aircraft, and ground surveillance capabilities. Those are good examples of nations cooperating and prioritizing. What we call smart defence.

You're also building strong relationships with our partners, especially in the Western Balkans. We all agree that Euro-Atlantic integration is the best way to spread security and stability and Bulgaria is making a valuable contribution to that historic project. Your commitment is important because it will take political commitment to make the decisions we face in Chicago, and it will take political commitment to implement them.

Mr. President, your visit here today shows your strong commitment to our Alliance. I know Bulgaria's strong commitment to NATO and I continue to count on your support as we prepare the Chicago Summit and as we put its decisions into effect.

ROSEN PLEVNELIEV (President of Bulgaria): (SPEAKING IN BULGARIAN)...

OANA LUNGESCU: We have time only for a few questions. Please, don't forget to introduce yourselves, to stick to one question and to say who you're addressing your question to. Bulgarian Radio.

Q: (inaudible...), Bulgarian National Radio. Secretary General, you have indicated on many different occasions that you would like to see a more substantial contribution from some member states in terms of operations capabilities and so on. Do you expect Bulgaria to further extend its NATO contribution, and if yes, how exactly?

And my question for the President of Bulgaria is... (SPEAKING IN BULGARIAN)...

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: This morning we have discussed at length our operation in Afghanistan and I have expressed strong appreciation of the very significant Bulgarian contribution to our operation in Afghanistan.

I have not requested further contributions to our operation in Afghanistan. Bulgaria already participates in a very significant way, but we have discussed how important it is that we coordinate the gradual change of role of our troops in Afghanistan during the period of transition to lead Afghan responsibility. And the President and I agree that all steps taken by individual Allies and partners should be closely coordinated with the ISAF command.

As I said in my introduction, we appreciate very much the significant contribution to our operation in Afghanistan, as well as the Bulgarian contribution to our operation in Kosovo, and the contributions we saw during our mission in Libya.

ROSEN PLEVNELIEV: (SPEAKING IN BULGARIAN)...

OANA LUNGESCU: Bulgarian Television.

Q: Thank you. My question is to both gentlemen. As the relationship with Russia is one of the priorities of NATO, did you talk if Bulgaria can somehow help with this hard relationship? Thank you.

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: Yes, we also discussed NATO's relationship with Russia. I informed the President about ongoing talks with Russia on a number of areas. Fortunately, we have seen progress in our relationship with Russia across the boards. We have enhanced cooperation on Afghanistan, on counter narcotics, counterterrorism, counter piracy, and we appreciate that. So during the last two and a half years we have seen progress in our relationship with Russia and I hope to see further progress.

On top of that we tried to find an agreement on missile defence cooperation. As you know, we invited Russia to cooperate on missile defence when we last met in Lisbon in November, 2010. Unfortunately, we have not yet seen much progress in that respect. But I still think there is a fair chance that we can reach an agreement on missile defence cooperation in May, hopefully in connection with the NATO Summit in Chicago.

I can't give any guarantee, but I do believe that it is also in the interest of Russia to find a solution, so I hope we can go that extra mile and find a solution.

OANA LUNGESCU: One last question.

Q: Bulgarian Television, BTV. A question for both gentlemen. Mr. Secretary General, is NATO going to declare ILC, Initial Operation Capability?

For the Bulgarian President, which area... what could be the Bulgarian contribution for the smart defence?

ANDERS FOGH RASMUSSEN: Yes, I suppose you're thinking about the missile defence, and yes, I can confirm that I hope and I would expect that we will be able to declare an interim capability of a NATO missile defence system when we meet in Chicago in May.

It will be a significant event. Actually, an excellent example of smart defence where NATO Allies, together, provide assets for a very important military capability to protect our populations against one of the new threats, missile attacks.

So, we will start a NATO missile defence system, and as I said previously, we hope that in that same context we will also find an agreement with Russia on cooperation on missile defence.

ROSEN PLEVNELIEV: (SPEAKING IN BULGARIAN)...

OANA LUNGESCU: Thank you very much, this concludes our press point.