In the week of the 29th of June, Mr. Ron Ton, Director of the Clingendael Academy, visited Sofia to deliver seminars and facilitate discussions on future cooperation between Clingendael and the Bulgarian Diplomatic Institute (BDI).

European and International Negotiations training

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"5475","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","height":"360","style":"width: 350px; height: 263px; float: right;","width":"480"}}]]Ron Ton delivered a two day seminar on European and International Negotiations for 26 officials of various ministries involved in European policy coordination.

The seminar included training on concepts and strategies in negotiations, a competence negotiations management methodology, profiling personal negotiation behaviour and various exercises, case studies, and a simulation game on EU crisis management. Special reference was made to EU negotiations and the preparation for Bulgaria’s EU Presidency in 2018.

Focal points in the training were the dynamics between the EU institutions, the main tasks of a EU Presidency and discussions on an effective Presidency preparation programme.

The seminar was opened by the Netherlands Ambassador to Bulgaria, Mr. Tom van Oorschot.

Capacity Building

BDI’s staff participated in a capacity building programme. Staff members were tasked with assignments related to personal development in managing diplomatic training, a strategy exercise on institutional management and curricula development in EU Presidency trainings. BDI welcomed new staff and interesting innovative ideas were explored.

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More information about our capacity building programmes can be found here.

Future cooperation

New cooperation was discussed with Mrs. Tanya Mihaylova, Director, and Mrs. Biliana Decheva, Head of Training and Research. A meeting on preparing for the Bulgarian Presidency was held with Mrs. Meglena Kuneva, Deputy Prime Minister for European Policies Coordination and Institutional Affairs and Mr. Rumen Alexandrov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Alexandrov is also a Clingendael alumnus of 2001.

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Nessebar

On the last day of the visit, Mr. Ton was invited by Mayor Nikolay Dimitrov to visit the beautiful ancient town Nessebar which is included by UNESCO in its list of World Heritage Sites since 1983.

- 13 July 2015