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YouthWiki

EACEA National Policies Platform
Bulgaria

Bulgaria

1. Youth Policy Governance

1.8 Cross-border cooperation

Last update: 22 March 2024

Cooperation with European countries

The Ministry of Youth and Sports has signed bilateral agreements and memorandums of understanding for cooperation in the field of youth with Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Republic of North Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine. The key areas of cooperation and topics are: exchange of good practices between governmental and nongovernmental associations and organisations dealing with training and research in the filed of youth, exchange of information and publications on youth issues, promotion of joint projects, exchange of visits of young people, participation in youth-related conferences, workshops and other events.

International cooperation

Bulgаria is a member of numerous international organizations among which the UN, and the Council of Europe. The Ministry of Youth and Sports actively cooperates with these two institutions regarding the youth policies. The National program “Bulgarian Youth delegate to the UN” (Национална програма „Български младежки делегати към ООН)  started in 2006 and it is organized by the UN Bulgaria (Дружество за ООН в България) with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. Partners of the Program are other institutions and NGOs like National Youth Forum, National Youth Card Bulgaria, ISIC Bulgaria and Bulgarian forum for international development.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports has its representative in the European Steering Committee for Youth, the Joint Council on Youth and the Porgramming Committee on Youth of the Council of Europe.

Since 2007, the Ministry of Youth and Sports (former State Agency for Youth and Sport) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Republic of Korea on understanding and cooperation in the field of youth policy. The Memorandum seeks to promote partnerships between the two countries on youth issues, focusing on youth policies, key mechanisms and good practice to address problems and meet the needs of young people in areas such as education, employment and participation in civil society. As a result of the Memorandum, regular youth exchange was conducted yearly until 2018. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the current exchanges have been suspended. In 2023, the exchange of visits of young people was renewed.

In addition to the MoU with the Republic of Korea, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has signed the following bilateral agreements in the field of youth policy that are currently in force (March 2024): Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Chile, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, the State of Qatar, Nepal, Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkmenistan.