Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev will confer on July 9 with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who will visit Bulgaria as part of a European tour, the government's information service said on Monday.

Rice is visiting Sofia upon the invitation of Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfin.

Dr Rice is expected to receive the Order of the Balkan Range from President Georgi Purvanov. The order was conferred on her last year for her contribution to the release of the Bulgarian medics in Libya.