site.btaPresident Radev Confers with Vietnam's Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh in Sofia

October 1 (BTA) - President Rumen Radev conferred here on Tuesday with the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Truong Hoa Binh, who is paying an official visit to Bulgaria, the President's Press Secretariat reported.

The two underscored the excellent bilateral dialogue, mutual trust and friendship that connects Bulgaria and Vietnam, and agreed that Bulgaria and Vietnam will work on re-establishing active bilateral cooperation in economy and education.

The 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries will be marked in 2020, and President Radev invited his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Phu Trong to visit Bulgaria together with a business delegation, which can become familiar with the investment opportunities Bulgaria offers.
Both Radev and Truong Hoa Binh noted that the bilateral trade of 100 million US dollars does not correspond to the two countries' potential.

The next meeting of the Joint Commission on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technical Cooperation, which will take place this November, is expected to focus on economic and investment partnership in the Bulgarian-Vietnamese relations. The two sides outlined as especially promising the development of the ICT, biotech, energy, environment, agriculture, medicine and pharmacy fields, including through the creation of joint enterprises. Vietnam's high economic growth in recent years is worthy of recognition and provokes Bulgarian companies' interest, President Radev said. With their rich cultural heritage and nature, Bulgaria and Vietnam have the opportunity to establish themselves as tourism centres.

President Radev called for re-establishing the traditional bilateral exchange in education. In the not so distant past, some 30,000 Vietnamese citizens received their post-secondary education and vocational training in Bulgaria. Many of them are at high-level positions in Vietnam right now and could help deepen the ties between the two countries, he said. Truong Hoa Binh expressed his country's interest in educating students in Bulgaria in promising fields, such as the high-tech sector and medicine, among others.

The two sides noted the good cooperation between Bulgaria and Vietnam within international organizations. Vietnam will chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year and will work on broadening Bulgaria's partnership with this community.

The situation in the region of the South China Sea was also discussed at the meeting. President Radev expressed Bulgaria's position that all disputed territorial issues should be resolved via dialogue, peaceful means and observing international law.

As part of his visit to Bulgaria, Deputy Prime Minister Binh held talks with his Bulgarian counterpart Tomislav Donchev on Monday, reported the Online Newspaper of the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (VGP News).

Vietnam considers Bulgaria among its top priority partners, Binh said, as quoted by VGP News. He conveyed invitations from Vietnamese leaders to Bulgarian leaders to visit Vietnam on the occasion of next year's 70th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations.

Deputy PM Tomislav Donchev voiced his belief that Binh's visit would contribute to accelerating traditional friendly ties and cooperation between the two countries in a more extensive and effective manner.

The two sides noted that the bilateral economic and trade cooperation has seen progress over the years, but has yet to match their potential. In order to improve their partnership, they agreed to strengthen trade and investment promotion activities, encourage and create optimal conditions for businesses of both sides to seek partners, especially in areas of Bulgaria's strength and Vietnam's demand, such as agriculture, pharmaceutical chemistry, and IT.

The two sides concurred to further strengthen cooperation in culture, tourism, science and technology, labour, security and defence, while speeding up the signing of an agreement on education collaboration in the 2019-2022 period.

The two deputy PMs also discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern.

Also on Monday, Deputy PM Binh conferred with Bulgaria's Supreme Court of Cassation President Lozan Panov, VGP News reported. Both sides agreed that authorised agencies of the two sides should work more closely in judicial and administrative reform as well as law building.

Binh said his country is interested in Bulgaria's experience in personnel training and court reform, as a way to enhance the efficiency of court activities in Vietnam. He conveyed the Vietnamese Chief Judge's invitation to Panov to visit Vietnam.