Amb. Valeri Ratchev, Marshall Center Graduate of the Month January 2008
The Marshall Center has named Bulgarian Ambassador to Iraq, Valeri Ratchev, Graduate of the Month for January 2008.
Amb. Ratchev attended the very first resident course at the Marshall Center, Executive Program 1994-1, while serving as a lieutenant colonel in the Bulgarian Army. The then-Minister of Defense personally nominated Lt. Col. Ratchev for the Executive Program, as preparation for his recent promotion to Deputy Director of the newly established National Security Studies Center in Bulgaria. “The Marshall Center course provided the knowledge and expertise needed for this position,” noted Amb. Ratchev.
IIn 1998 Lt. Col. Ratchev was named Deputy Director of the newly established Defense Planning Directorate in the Ministry of Defense and in 2001 he became Deputy Commandant of the G.S. Rakovski Defense and Staff College. He retired from the armed forces as a colonel with 34 years of service and was appointed by the president as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Iraq, where he presented his credentials in March 2006. Amb. Ratchev serves concurrently as an Advisor to the Political Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Amb. Ratchev cited a number of activities that the Marshall Center experience helped him to prepare for in his past career. He had a leading role or participated in such projects as the National Security and Crisis Management Concepts for Bulgaria as well as Military Doctrine in the 1990’s. He also participated in the Defense Reform Plan 2004 and National Security and Defense Faculty reform and accreditation in 2003/4.
In 2005 Amb. Ratchev returned to the Marshall Center for the Senior Executive Seminar 2005-3 where he had the opportunity to meet, work and live with senior diplomats and flag officers. Amb. Ratchev stated, “This was not only ‘setting the clock’ but a source of valuable professional and friendly connections.” He went on to note, “The Marshall Center is my first (1994) and foremost school of diplomacy. The educational programs I attended helped me understand the world not only from different but from multiple points of view.”
Amb. Ratchev was a co-founder of the Marshall Center alumni association in Bulgaria and continues to be an active member, having moderated the last alumni roundtable held in November 2006. He maintains contact with many of the professors, support staff and alumni both in Bulgaria and from other countries, noting, “Real life is providing more and unexpected challenges that need joint and consolidated responses.” He went on to emphasize the role of the alumni network stating, “The alumni should keep this mission powerfully alive, contributing to the Marshall Center’s programs and applying its philosophy and principles as a model for strengthening national and regional networks of educated, ambitious and moral people.”
Beginning with March 2007, the Marshall Center Graduate Support Office has featured a Marshall Center Graduate of the Month. The purpose of this initiative is to feature Marshall Center alumni who are playing an active role in furthering the ideals of the Marshall Center in creating a more stable security environment by advancing democratic institutions and relationships; promoting active, peaceful security cooperation; and enhancing enduring partnerships among the nations of North America, Europe, Eurasia, and beyond.
