Bulgaria has received a mine countermeasures ship from Belgium, which will be based at the Burgas naval base, the Navy Headquarters said.

The ship is the former Bellis, hull number M916, and is now called Briz. It is the first of the four Belgian and three Dutch minehunters the navy is due to receive.

A Bulgarian naval flag was raised on the ship at the naval base in Zeebrugge. Lt Gen Bernard Falleg, Belgium's national armaments director, and Rear Adm Kiril Mihaylov, commander of the Bulgarian navy, signed the handover document.

Belgian navy commander Rear Adm Tanguy Botman, Bulgarian ambassador Natalia Uzunova and Bulgaria's ambassador to NATO, Nikolay Milkov, also attended the ceremony, along with admirals, generals and officers.

Captain Yordan Yordanov, who commands a division in the Flotilla of Combat and Auxiliary Ships, will be the senior national representative on board during the voyage. Briz will join his division.

The purchase follows a memorandum of understanding between Bulgaria, Belgium and the Netherlands, signed in July this year. The navy says the Tripartite-class minehunters, which will arrive over the next few years, will strengthen Bulgaria's contribution to NATO's defence on the eastern flank.

Defence minister Dimitar Stoyanov also signed a note today under which Bulgaria joins a NATO initiative to develop capabilities against low-flying air threats.