Vietnam-Bulgaria establish strategic partnership

Vietnam and Bulgaria agreed to establish a strategic partnership, opening a period of more comprehensive, extensive and effective cooperation on the basis of 75 years of traditional friendship between the two countries.

According to the VNA special correspondent, within the framework of the official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria from October 22-24, at noon on October 23 (local time), at the Presidential Palace in the capital Sofia, General Secretary To Lam and President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev met the press to announce the results of the talks.

President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev emphasized that, in the spirit of trust and mutual understanding, the two sides had a successful meeting; together they reviewed the situation of cooperation between the two countries, agreed on major orientations to expand and deepen traditional areas of cooperation, and identified new areas of cooperation in which the two countries have potential and need.

The two sides also had in-depth discussions on regional and international issues of mutual concern. Vietnam and Bulgaria agreed to establish a strategic partnership.

In 2025, the two countries celebrate the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. This is an important event, contributing to bringing the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Bulgaria to an increasingly deeper, more substantial and effective level.

Bulgaria has actively contributed to Vietnam's construction and development, helping Vietnam develop human resources and train many highly skilled workers. They are the bridge in the cooperative relationship between the two countries.

President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev expressed his interest, admiration and congratulations on the great achievements that Vietnam has made in the cause of Renovation, national development as well as international integration; saying that with its economic development achievements and increasingly high political position, Vietnam is an important factor in the Southeast Asian region.

General Secretary To Lam and Bulgarian President Rumen Radev at a press meeting. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

In the coming time, President Rumen Radev hopes that the two countries will promote effective cooperation in traditional fields such as defense-security, education-training, science-technology, agriculture, culture-sports, tourism, and people-to-people exchange.

This visit opens up new opportunities and visions in bilateral relations and deepens cooperation between the two countries.

At the press meeting, General Secretary To Lam said that on the basis of the positive developments and great achievements of the Vietnam-Bulgaria relationship after 75 years of establishing diplomatic relations, with firm confidence in the bright future of the bilateral relationship, the two sides adopted a Joint Statement on establishing the Vietnam-Bulgaria Strategic Partnership.

This is an important milestone, creating the basis and foundation to bring the relationship between the two countries to a new height, for the benefit of the two peoples, for peace, stability and development in the region and the world.

This cooperation framework will create a solid foundation to consolidate and further deepen the Vietnam-Bulgaria relationship, maximizing each other's strengths so that the two countries can continue to develop rapidly and sustainably in the new situation.

In order to realize the content of the Joint Statement and bring bilateral relations into a new era of development, the General Secretary stated that the two sides discussed and reached high consensus on six groups of solutions: Strengthening political trust through continuing to promote delegation exchanges and high-level contacts on all Party, State, National Assembly channels and people-to-people exchanges, including within the bilateral and multilateral frameworks; agreeing to continue promoting existing cooperation mechanisms, expanding new cooperation mechanisms, and deepening specialized cooperation.

General Secretary To Lam and President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev held a closed-door meeting. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

The two sides promoted cooperation in the field of defense and security, in line with the current Strategic Partnership framework; agreed to promote cooperation in training and academic exchanges between defense academies and research facilities, and cooperation in the fields of United Nations peacekeeping, cyber security, military medicine, etc.

In the context of the world economy facing many great challenges, the two countries agreed to closely coordinate, making economic, trade and investment cooperation a central pillar in the Strategic Partnership; committed to closely coordinate to maintain and strengthen free trade; strongly promote trade and investment through opening markets to each other; effectively implement the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), with the goal of doubling bilateral trade turnover in the coming years; ready to be the "gateway" for Vietnamese and Bulgarian goods to penetrate the ASEAN and EU markets.

The two sides agreed to make science and technology cooperation an important pillar in the Vietnam-Bulgaria Strategic Partnership by expanding cooperation in areas of both sides' strengths and needs such as training IT human resources in the fields of digital transformation, digital economy, digital infrastructure and e-government, pharmaceuticals and biomedicine, artificial intelligence (AI) and modern computer science, green energy, etc.

Recognizing that cooperation in traditional fields such as education and training, culture and tourism, health, labor and agriculture still has a lot of room for development in the context of the new relationship, the two sides agreed to promote cooperation in training high-quality human resources, building programs and activities of culture, tourism, exhibitions, music exchanges... to enhance understanding and exchange between the people of the two countries; continue to facilitate the Vietnamese community to increasingly integrate deeply, actively contributing to the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

General Secretary To Lam and Bulgarian President Rumen Radev held official talks. (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)

The two sides will strengthen the exchange of views on issues of mutual concern, promote cooperation in resolving traditional and non-traditional security issues, closely coordinate and support each other at multilateral forums such as the United Nations, ASEAN-EU, ASEM to maintain peace, stability and development in each region and the world; emphasize support for stances and viewpoints in ensuring security, safety, freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea; uphold the rule of law, resolve disputes by peaceful means, not use or threaten to use force in international relations, in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Based on the 75-year foundation of traditional friendship and the high determination of the leaders and people of the two countries, the General Secretary firmly believes that the establishment of the Vietnam-Bulgaria strategic partnership will open a new era of cooperation for the two countries, for the development goals of each country and for peace and prosperity in the region and the world./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/viet-nam-bulgaria-thiet-lap-quan-he-doi-tac-chien-luoc-post1072213.vnp