site.btaBulgarian Foreign Minister, Newly Appointed Japanese Ambassador Discuss Cooperation In Response to Global Challenges

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel and newly appointed Japanese Ambassador Hisashi Michigami discussed bilateral cooperation in response to global challenges, Gabriel said on Facebook on Monday.

The sides also discussed partnership in digital technologies, innovation, education and environmental protection, as well as a memorandum signed between the Bulgarian Institute of Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology, INSAIT, and the Japanese institute RIKEN in November 2023 and the opportunities they will provide for talent development in this field.

"It will be a pleasure to celebrate together three important anniversaries in 2024: 115 years since the establishment of the first official contacts between Bulgaria and Japan, 85 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, and 65 years since their restoration," Gabriel said.

Diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Japan were established on October 12, 1939 and were severed in the period 1944-1959. Bulgaria opened its embassy in Tokyo in 1964, and Japan opened its embassy in Sofia in 1966, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry reports.