According to VNA, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov welcomed and appreciated the significance of General Secretary To Lam's first visit to Bulgaria, which has made an important contribution to promoting Vietnam - Bulgaria relations. Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov affirmed that Vietnam is Bulgaria's leading important and reliable partner in Southeast Asia.
Sincerely thanking the warm and warm welcome of the Bulgarian leaders and people, General Secretary To Lam affirmed that Vietnam always attaches importance to the good traditional friendship with Bulgaria.
At the meeting, the two leaders agreed to enhance political trust, promote delegation exchanges, high-level contacts on Party, State, Government, National Assembly channels and people-to-people exchanges; strengthen the coordination role of the two countries' foreign ministries in promoting bilateral cooperation; coordinate the implementation of strategic partnership contents and effectively promote existing mechanisms such as the Intergovernmental Committee, the Science - Technology Cooperation Committee, and at the same time study and establish new mechanisms in line with the current Strategic Partnership...
In the fields of economy, trade and investment, the two sides agreed to consider this as the main driving force of the relationship, emphasizing that both countries need to effectively exploit the Vietnam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and coordinate to ensure a sustainable supply chain, connecting logistics through seaports, aiming to double bilateral trade turnover in the coming years.
The two sides expressed their delight at the good results achieved at the Vietnam - Bulgaria Business Forum.
The General Secretary affirmed that Vietnam is ready to facilitate Bulgarian goods to access domestic markets and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), hoping that Bulgaria will become a "gateway" for Vietnamese goods to the EU market, reduce trade barriers and support Vietnamese enterprises to invest in Bulgaria.
On this occasion, General Secretary To Lam also proposed to further expand cooperation in traditional areas such as education - training, culture - tourism, health, labor, and agriculture, including promoting the European Commission (EC) to soon remove the "yellow card" for Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU market; suggesting that the two sides promote the early signing of a Cooperation Agreement between the two governments in the health sector.
Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov pledged to work with the Vietnamese Government to effectively implement the contents of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
The two leaders also shared their assessment that in addition to traditional fields, the two countries' cooperation still have much room for development, especially in areas of mutual interest such as digital transformation, digital economy, artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security, e-government, etc., and emphasized their commitment to making efforts to make science and technology cooperation an important pillar in the Vietnam - Bulgaria Strategic Partnership.
