President Georgi Purvanov signed a decree appointing Luchezar Petkov as the new Bulgarian ambassador to the United States, a statement in the State Gazette read on September 2 2008.

Petkov’s current positions is head of the human resources directorate at the Foreign Ministry. His previous position was as Bulgaria’s ambassador to Poland in 2002/2006.

Petkov will replace ambassador Elena Poptodorova, whose mandate ends this autumn; she took the post in February 2002.

So far, there has been no official comments on what Poptodorova will do when she returns, but speculations in Bulgarian media say that she will most probably head one of the ministry's directorates covering either the US or Europe.

Petkov’s appointment comes exactly a week after the new US ambassador to Bulgaria Nancy McEldowney and the new Russian ambassador in Sofia Yuri Isakov presented their credentials to Purvanov.

On July 25, McEldowney was officially sworn in to the post, replacing John Beyrle, who had been designated as US ambassador in Moscow. McEldowney's previous posts include deputy chief of mission in Ankara, Turkey, office of the secretary of defence at the Pentagon and director of European Affairs for the National Security Council at the White House. She has also been posted in Azerbaijan, Germany and Egypt.

Career diplomat Yuri Isakov was, until his appointment to Bulgaria, ambassador plenipotentiary on special duty at the Russian foreign ministry; he succeeds the retiring Anatoly Potapov, who had been ambassador in Sofia for the past three years.