THE Bulgarian Defence Minister has visited Kosovo with his 10 year-old-daughter – to show he is not worried about radiation risks in the region.

Boiko Noev toured the main camp of Bulgaria’s troops in Kosovo, part of the German contingent of KFOR there, with German Defence Minister Rudolf Sharping.

The visit was prompted by the month-old Balkan Syndrome controversy – fears that radiation emitted by depleted uranium tipping NATO ammunition used in the 1999 campaign has affected the health of soldiers who served there and remains a threat to inhabitants.

“Both Bulgarian and German military experts are categorical: the health of German and Bulgarian soldiers in Kosovo is not at risk,” Noev told the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA) on Monday. Military experts from the German contingent showed the ministers pieces of depleted uranium gathered in Kosovo.

“Radiation from these shells with depleted uranium would be scarcely 20 per cent of the dose of radiation received by plane passengers,” Rudolf Sharping said.

The other concerning aspect in the radiation scare is that it is potentially harmful to the economies of the Balkans. Noev was also in Macedonia on Saturday. “The media over-reaction to the problems surrounding the use by the U.S. of depleted uranium in Kosovo may affect adversely the economies of Bulgaria, Macedonia and the entire region”, he and Macedonian Defence Minister Ljuben Paunovski told reporters after delegations from the two countries met on Saturday in Skopje.

The fuss over Balkan Syndrome may put potential investors off the Balkans and impede the export of agricultural produce to the rest of Europe.

“It may lead to imposition of an unofficial embargo on the region,” the Macedonian minister said. The two ministers agreed to continue to do everything possible to achieve stabilisation in the Balkans. “The Balkans must show that they do not expect to be admitted to the European Union and NATO as a reward, but along the road to these structures, they should prove their earnest desire and capability of achieving mutual co-operation in a truly European way,” Paunovski said.

A plan has also been signed for bilateral defence co-operation in 2001. “Macedonian experts will arrive in Bulgaria in a couple of weeks’ time to finalise arrangements for the forthcoming supplies of Bulgarian Army surplus weapons to the Macedonian Army,” Paunovski said.

“Bulgaria is to provide, free of charge, one radar for the Macedonian Air Defence, which may even be modernised before delivery,” Noev said.