The process of Bulgaria reshaping its diplomatic corps abroad took a further step forward on February 1 2012 when the Cabinet approved a further five nominations for ambassadors, to Spain, Russia, Syria, Morocco and Pakistan.
 
The nominations will be sent to President Rossen Plevneliev for approval.
 
Boiko Kotsev has been nominated to head the Bulgarian embassy in Moscow, while three career diplomats have been named to head Bulgaria’s missions in Islamabad, Damascus and Madrid.
 
Boriana Simeonova, Director of the Government Protocol directorate at the Council of Ministers, has been nominated to become Bulgaria’s ambassador to Morocco.

The other nominations are Konstantin Kodzhabashev as ambassador to Spain, Roumen Pironchev as ambassador to Pakistan and Dimitar Mihailov as ambassador to Syria.
 
"Sending to Russia our current representative to the EU is a sign of our desire to strengthen European perspectives in our relations with Moscow, because this is in Bulgaria’s interests," Foreign Minister Nikolai Mladenov said.
 
Mladenov emphasised the professionalism of the diplomats who have been proposed to become the ambassadors to Syria - a country in a critical situation, in Pakistan - a key country for the security of Asia and beyond, and in Spain, where there is a large Bulgarian Diaspora and important partnerships in the EU and Nato.
 
Apart from Simeonova’s long experience in the highest levels of administration, the appointment is in line with the commitment to have more women as Bulgarian ambassadors, Mladenov said.
 
This is the second round of nominations after the first batch were put forward by the Cabinet on January 25.
 
Both of Foreign Minister Mladenov’s deputies have been proposed as ambassadors – Konstantin Dimitrov in London and Dimitar Tsanchev at European Union headquarters – as has the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Radi Naidenov, set to become Bulgaria’s ambassador in Berlin.
 
More than 90 per cent of the ambassadors nominated by the Cabinet on January 25 are career diplomats.

Ten are headed for other EU member states, six for countries in South East Europe and two at the United Nations while one has been nominated for the embassy in South Africa which is to play a pivotal role among the countries at the south of the continent.

The nominations, of which more are expected in the next three weeks, represent the wholesale campaign to remake the Foreign Ministry, including ridding its top echelons of former communist-era State Security collaborators while Mladenov also repeatedly has underlined his intention to fast-track young talent.

By definition, the appointment of so many senior officials will clear away some career bottlenecks at the ministry. Further, a number of old-order Foreign Ministry employees are due for retirement in the coming year.