On the morning of October 24 (local time), General Secretary To Lam visited and delivered an important policy speech with the theme "The 75-year journey of friendship between Asia and Europe, Vietnam - Bulgaria to a strategic partnership in the new era" at Sofia University of General Statistics, VOV reported.
Expressing his pleasure at visiting and speaking at the prestigious schools of Bulgaria, the General Secretary reviewed some key points in the 75-year journey of friendship between Asia and Europe between Vietnam and Bulgaria, affirming that Vietnam will always remember Bulgaria as one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam (in 1950).
Referring to the vision on bilateral relations in the new chapter when the two countries establish a strategic partnership framework, the General Secretary emphasized the pillars of strategic cooperation that the two countries need to prioritize in the coming time: "We hope to strongly strengthen comprehensive cooperation in all fields, we are ready to work with Bulgaria to expand cooperation in the field of security and defense in a practical direction, in line with the newly upgraded strategic partnership framework, especially in areas such as cyber security, United Nations peacekeeping, preventing transnational crimes and training of defense officers".
The General Secretary also emphasized that economic - trade - investment cooperation should become a central pillar to shift the Vietnam - Bulgaria relationship from a "traditional" platform to "strategian - substantial - effective".
Vietnam hopes that Bulgaria will become a strategic gateway for Vietnam to access more deeply into the European Union (EU) market. On the contrary, Vietnam is also ready to be a reliable bridge for Bulgaria to expand relations with the ASEAN region, a dynamic market with nearly 700 million people, including over 100 million Vietnamese people.
The General Secretary also said that the two countries need to continue to promote substantial cooperation in specialized fields such as science and technology, which are strategic priorities in the new period, along with education and training, agriculture, labor, environment and health, including areas where Bulgaria has strengths and Vietnam has urgent needs such as: Training human resources in information technology in digital transformation, circular economy, digital economy, e-government, pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence (AI), green energy, waste management, clean water treatment and transfer of advanced biomedical technology.
In particular, it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between localities and people-to-people exchanges, promote cultural - tourism and sports cooperation because people-to-people exchanges are the foundation of friendship between Vietnam and Bulgaria.
Once again emphasizing the 75-year history of the Vietnam - Bulgaria relationship, it has shown that when the two peoples share human values, stand shoulder to shoulder in challenging times and look forward to the future with the desire for development, the General Secretary affirmed that when both countries overcome the challenges of the times, promote comprehensive cooperation and spread the values of peace, cooperation and development, the two countries can be completely confident in the future, when the Vietnam - Bulgaria Strategic Partnership will be a model of sincere, effective and long-term international friendship in the 21st century.
