PRESIDENT GEORGI PARVANOV AND VICE-PRESIDENT ANGEL MARIN WERE SWORN IN BEFORE THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

19 January 2007, 9.30 a.m.

President Georgi Parvanov and Vice-President Angel Marin were sworn in before the National Assembly at a solemn ceremony on 19 January 2007. They took the oath of office in the presence of His Holiness the Bulgarian Patriarch Maxim.

Parvanov and Marin, who are Bulgaria's first re-elected President and Vice-President, were sworn in to observe the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria and the laws of the country and in all their actions to be guided by the interests of the people.

After taking the oath, President of the Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov addressed the Members of Parliament. National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski delivered a concluding speech.

Attending the solemn ceremony were Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, Cabinet Ministers, senior judiciary members, members of the Constitutional Court, the Ombudsman of the Republic, representatives of the religious denominations in Bulgaria and diplomats. Senior state officials, the Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, representatives of the Central Election Commission, local government officials and media editors-in-chief also were among the guests attending the ceremony.