At noon on October 23 (local time), at the Presidential Palace in Sofia, Bulgaria, General Secretary To Lam and President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev met with 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 successful talks. Vietnam - Bulgaria agreed to establish a Strategic Partnership. In 2025, the two countries will celebrate the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations. This is an important event, contributing to the increasingly deepening, substantial and effective traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Bulgaria.
In the coming time, President Rumen Radev hopes that the two countries will promote effective cooperation in traditional areas such as defense - security, education - training, science - technology, agriculture, culture - sports, tourism, and people-to-people exchange.
At the press conference, General Secretary To Lam said that the two sides had approved a Joint Statement on the establishment of the Vietnam - Bulgaria Strategic Partnership. This is an important milestone, creating a foundation and foundation to bring the bilateral relationship to a new height, for the benefit of the people of the two countries, for peace, stability and development in the region and the world.
This framework of cooperation will create a solid foundation to strengthen 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.
The two sides agreed to closely coordinate, making economic, trade and investment cooperation a central pillar in the Strategic Partnership; commit to close coordination to maintain and strengthen trade freedom; strongly promote trade and investment through opening up markets for 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 a "gateway" for Vietnamese and Bulgarian goods to penetrate the ASEAN market and the EU market.
The two sides agreed to make science and technology cooperation an important pillar in the Vietnam - Bulgaria Strategic Partnership with the expansion of cooperation in areas where both sides have strengths and needs such as training human resources in information technology in the fields of digital transformation, digital economy, digital infrastructure and e-government, pharmaceuticals and medicine, artificial intelligence (AI) and modern computer science, green energy, etc.
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 the common peace and prosperity of the region and the world.
