Top legislator’s official visit expected to help boost Vietnam-Bulgaria multifaceted cooperation

NParty General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong (R) receives then Bulgarian President Risen Plevneliev in 2013 (Photo: VNA)

National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue’s upcoming official visit to Bulgaria is expected to help consolidate and enhance time-tested friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries in general and the two parliaments in particular.

Hue’s trip is made 15 years after the visit to the European country by then NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong in 2008.

Vietnam and Bulgaria set up their diplomatic relations on February 8, 1950. Over the past years, the bilateral relationship has enjoyed positive developments in all fields from politics-diplomacy, economy, trade, defence-security, science-technology, education-training, culture to sports and tourism.

In addition to regular visits by high-ranking leaders, the two countries have maintained close cooperation at regional and international forums, particularly within the framework of the United Nations, the ASEAN-EU cooperation, and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Bilateral economic and trade collaboration has also developed positively in recent times. Bulgaria is one of the EU countries taking the lead in ratifying the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation (PCA), as well as promoting the signing and ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

Two-way trade reached 203.6 million USD in 2022 and 147.25 million USD in the first eight months of this year.

Regarding investment, as of August 2023, Bulgaria had 14 valid investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 31.32 million USD.

Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan (third from left) meets with Bulgarian President Rumen Radev (far right) (Photo: VNA)

People-to-people exchanges between the two countries are continuously expanding. Cultural activities have been held regularly in both countries, contributing to promoting people-to-people exchanges and enhancing mutual understanding between the two countries' people.

Education-training is a traditional field of cooperation between the two countries, which has been always tightened thanks to the thousands of Vietnamese people living and studying in Bulgaria. The two countries signed an agreement on education cooperation for the 2019-2023 period.

There are currently over 1,000 Vietnamese people living in the European nation.

In terms of parliamentary cooperation, the two countries have maintained coordination and mutual support at multilateral parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meeting (ASEP).

The top legislator’s official visit from September 24-26 aimed to affirm the importance Vietnam has attached to its traditional friendship with Bulgaria.

Two-way trade reaches 203.6 million USD in 2022 and 147.25 million USD in the first eight months of this year (Photo: VNA)

During his stay in Bulgaria, Hue will hold talks and meetings with senior Bulgarian leaders, attend a law policy forum to promote bilateral cooperation, and deliver a policy speech at the University of National and World Economy in Sofia capital.

The visit also aims to enhance collaboration between the two parliaments, as they plan to update their memorandum of understanding with new cooperation contents to suit the international and regional situation as well as the relationship between the two countries.

One of the very important contents of this visit is to prompt Bulgaria in particular and the European Union in general in effectively implementing the EVFTA, and urging the Bulgarian NA to soon ratify the EVIPA, said Don Tuan Phong, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Foreign Affairs./.