US president George Bush met his Bulgarian counterpart Georgi Purvanov during a reception hosted by Bush for participants in the 60th UN General Assembly. The two presidents mostly discussed preparations for their meeting at the White House next month.
During the UN session, Purvanov also met the presidents of Finland and Estonia. The focus of discussions was the rapid ratification of Bulgaria's EU accession treaty by their countries. The aim of the UN summit is to achieve major decisions about the role of the UN in international affairs. Yesterday UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, opening the meeting, hit out at various countries by saying that their individual disagreements might lead to the failure of the entire summit. Observers believe that disagreements between the US, Russia and China have diminished chances that the summit's goals will be achieved. The differences revolve mainly around ways to combat poverty, as well as the introduction of new global security measures. A positive development has been the acceptance of a convention against nuclear terrorism, which Purvanov signed together with the other participants, 24 Chassa newspaper reported.