site.btaBulgarian Economy Minister Meets with Chinese Vice Premier

113 ECONOMY - MINISTER - CHINA - VISIT

Bulgarian Economy Minister
Meets with Chinese
Vice Premier

June 10 (BTA) - Bulgarian Economy Minister Emil Karanikolov met with Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua on the sidelines of the annual China-CEEC Investment and Trade Expo in Ningbo, Karanikolov's ministry reported on Monday. They discussed trade and economic cooperation between their countries.

Karanikolov said Bulgaria supports and is actively contributing to the development of the "17+1" (formerly: 16+1) format of cooperation between Central and Eastern European countries and China. Hu visited the Bulgarian section of the Expo, at which about 20 Bulgarian companies are presenting their products.

The Bulgarian Economy Minister stressed that his country's trade with China has been growing steadily over the last few years. In the first quarter of 2019 alone, two-way trade amounted to 683.2 million US dollars, growing by 11 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2018.

Bulgarian exports to China hit a record-high level in 2018, and in the first quarter of 2019 they amounted to 240.6 million dollars, which was 16.1 per cent more than a year earlier.

In addition to the seaport of Ningbo, Karanikolov also visited the nearby megacity of Shanghai, where he talked with the Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board. IG/VE