Ekaterina Zaharieva

Minister of Foreign AffairsIn office
4 May 2017 – 12 May 2021Prime MinisterBoyko BorisovPreceded byRadi NaydenovSucceeded bySvetlan StoevMinister of JusticeIn office
18 December 2015 – 27 January 2017Prime MinisterBoyko BorisovPreceded byHristo IvanovSucceeded byMariya Pavlova Personal detailsBorn
(1975-08-08) 8 August 1975 (age 48)
Pazardzhik, BulgariaPolitical partyGERBSpouse Alma materPlovdiv University

Ekaterina Spasova Gecheva-Zaharieva (Bulgarian: Екатерина Спасова Гечева-Захариева; born 8 August 1975) is a Bulgarian politician who served as the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria 2017 to 2021. She was interim Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regional development from 2013.

Early life and education

Zaharieva was born in Pazardzhik in 1975. She became fluent in German at her local college, then attended the University of Plovdiv where she graduated in law. This was followed by a law master's degree.^[1]

Career

She worked as a lawyer until 2003. She then became a legal Advisor of the Ministry of Environment and Water. Zaharieva became the Director of Legal, Administrative and Regulatory Services in 2007.^[1]

Entering politics in 2009, she became the Minister of Regional Development to Rosen Plevneliev. When Plevneliev became President of Bulgaria, he chose her for the position of one of the Deputy Prime Ministers from March to May in 2013.^[2] She was interim deputy Prime Minister to Marin Raykov in the Bulgarian Cabinet.

In 2013 she was the Minister of Regional Development.^{[citation needed]} From 18 December 2015 she served as Minister of Justice until 27 January 2017. She became the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria on 4 May 2017.^[3]

See also

• List of foreign ministers in 2017
• List of current foreign ministers

References