site.btaParliament Chair Zhelyazkov Honours Vietnamese Promoting Relations with Bulgaria

Bulgaria's Parliament Chairman Rosen Zhelyazkov Sunday honoured prominent figures of Bulgarian-Vietnamese relations at a reception organized by the Bulgarian Embassy in Hanoi and the Vietnam-Bulgaria Friendship Association. The formal event was part of the programme of a Bulgarian parliamentary delegation to Vietnam led by Zhelyazkov.

Citations for promoting bilateral relations were given to six Vietnamese friends of Bulgaria, including Lt. Gen. Le Thu Ha, a former political commissar of Hanoi's Military Hospital No. 108. She has been active in the Vietnam-Bulgaria Friendship Association for nearly 20 years. In December 2020, she was elected chair of its Hanoi chapter, which has some 400 members. 

Zhelyazkov noted that the Bulgarian delegation met with a very warm reception. He recalled that more than 35,000 Vietnamese studied and worked in Bulgaria in the 1970s and 1980s. More than 5,000 Vietnamese have graduated from Bulgarian universities, he said, calling them Bulgaria's ambassadors to Vietnam and Vietnam's ambassadors to Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian official said that however far apart, the two countries have a similar historical fate. The two peoples have struggled for national liberation, for national unification, and for the development and prosperity of society. "Even when our socio-political development has been different, we have maintained understanding of, and attention to, each other because our peoples have learned their lessons," Zhelyazkov said.

"Such visits are aimed at showing the two peoples that we want to be together on the path of accelerated economic development, friendship and technological development, as well as to use the potential we have - Bulgaria as an EU member and Vietnam as an ASEAN member. These are great opportunities, there are no obstacles to developing our relations on a different level," Zhelyazkov said. "The challenges of the modern world are big but we have learned to walk on hard roads. There is an old saying that smooth roads are slippery. We will walk our rough roads, but we will walk them together," the Bulgarian Parliament Chair said.

Alumni of Bulgarian universities sang Bulgarian and Vietnamese songs.