Bulgaria will ask to be covered by NATO's future missile shield at the alliance's upcoming Lisbon summit, Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov said Wednesday.

NATO member states will hold a meeting on Nov. 19-20 in Lisbon to discuss issues concerning the missile defense system.

Bulgaria expects that the idea of building the missile shield would be approved in Lisbon as one of the alliance's major missions, Mladenov said.

"It is important for us Bulgaria to be covered by this shield," he said.

Mladenov also said he preferred that the NATO missile shield would be built in cooperation with Russia, as it would enhance the effectiveness of their common defense against potential threats.

Bulgarian Defense Minister Anyu Angelov indicated in June that the country might join the NATO missile shield in the future and link its air defense to the bloc's missile defense system.

Countries like Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey need the missile shield, Angelov said, because "they are in the range of missiles launched from the Middle East" and are therefore "promoters of the missile shield."