Bulgarian Government Award Presented to AJC Executive Director

American Jewish Committee
Friday, 7 December 2001

A high-level political delegation from Bulgaria today presented AJC Executive Director David A. Harris with the Gold Laurel Branch Decoration.

The prestigious award, presented in recognition of contributions made to advancing U.S.-Bulgarian relations, is a "small token of appreciation for David and the American Jewish Committee," said Ambassador Phillip Dimitrov, the Bulgarian ambassador to the United States. "This is for David's great contributions to relations between Bulgaria and the United States."

The ambassador presented the award on behalf of Foreign Minster Solomon Passy, who originally was scheduled to participate in the meeting at AJC, but had to leave for Europe. Joining Ambassador Dimitrov were the deputy speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament and the ambassador to the United Nations.

Other recipients of the Bulgarian Award included former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman, Congressmen Tom Lantos and Doug Bereuter, and Ambassador Dan Fried, a senior National Security Council official.

In May 2000, Mr. Harris was honored by German President Johannes Rau with the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his work in German-Jewish and German-American relations.

In May 1999, Mr. Harris was honored by Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek, on behalf of the Government of Poland, for "his role in helping Poland to become part of the Euro-Atlantic community of free nations."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org