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Stoyan Ganev (Bulgaria)
Elected President of the forty-seventh session of the General Assembly
Stoyan Ganev, who was elected this afternoon as President of the forty-seventh regular session of the General Assembly, is Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria.
The new Assembly President has supported an enhancement of the role of the United Nations for consolidating world peace and security, and for making it more effective in finding solutions to political, socio-economic, environmental and other problems.
Until July, Mr. Ganev was also Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria. Serving in Bulgaria's first non-communist cabinet in 47 years, Mr. Ganev is a leader of the anti-communist opposition in his country. He is a member of the National Assembly and Chairman of the United Democratic Centre, a Christian Democratic party in the structure of the ruling opposition coalition -- the Union of Democratic Forces. He is also Chairman of a coordinating body on Bulgaria's accession to the Council on Europe, and his Government's chief envoy in the negotiations on Bulgaria's association with the European Community.
As Foreign Minister, Mr. Ganev, during a visit to the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels last November, launched the idea of convening a tripartite meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey.
Last December, at the inaugural session of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council in Brussels, he proposed for the meeting's concluding document items on the need for assistance to achieve economic reforms in Eastern Europe and on the importance of regional security structures as an element in overall European security.
As a participant at the fourth follow-up Helsinki meeting of member States of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) last March, Mr. Ganev addressed the need for promoting the CSCE process in south-eastern Europe by convening a forum of the Balkan States and the countries adjoining the region. He has also proposed his country as host for bilateral and multilateral talks in the framework of the Middle East peace process.
Mr.Ganev graduated from Sofia University's Faculty of Law in 1979, and defended a thesis on constitutional law at Moscow University in 1985. He has lectured on the subject at Sofia University, and on international politics and law at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Germany and at Rotary International.
Born in Pazardjik, Bulgaria, on 23 July 1955, Mr. Ganev is married and has one daughter.
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