High-ranking American politician Asa Hutchinson is expected to arrive in Bulgaria in the coming days for a meeting with Acting Minister of the Interior Emil Dechev.
According to sources from the Interior Ministry, the reason for the visit is the worrying project being implemented by the consortium “Mühlbauer ID Services GmbH – C&T“, for the issuance of the new Bulgarian identity documents and its serious delay of more than a year and a half.
According to the same sources, the American side is closely monitoring the project, as there are doubts regarding the reliability and security of the identity documents.
As has been noted more than once, this is an important factor in the assessments related to Bulgaria's future inclusion in the visa-free travel program to the United States.
Asa Hutchinson is a former governor of the state of Arkansas (2015-2023) and a long-standing figure in American politics and the security system.
In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to head the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and later became Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security.