site.btaNational Assembly Chair Zhelyazkov Delivers Lecture to Students in Hanoi

On Tuesday, the fourth and last day of his official visit to Vietnam, Bulgarian National Assembly Chair Rosen Zhelyazkov delivered a lecture before students at the Vietnam National University (VNU) in Hanoi. The lecture was entitled "Bilateral Relations between Bulgaria and Vietnam through the Lens of Economic and Cultural Ties".

"In the present-day global world, Bulgaria and Vietnam are standing ever closer to each other," the guest said. "Our countries, being linked historically, tangibly and digitally, are together in combating climate change, ensuring the sustainability of supply chains, overcoming hybrid threats, advancing innovation, technologies and artificial intelligence," the head of Parliament pointed out. He expressed his satisfaction with the active political dialogue at the highest level between Bulgaria and Vietnam and added that recent years have seen a shared will to upgrade bilateral ties to strategic partnership. "The two countries are now important stability factors in their respective regions, they maintain constructive relations with their neighbours and are actively involved in various regional cooperation formats," he stressed.

"Bulgaria will continue to advocate strongly the development of EU's relations with Vietnam as a priority partner," the National Assembly Chair said. In his words, "our bilateral relations, based on traditional friendship, pragmatism and trust, ever more tangibly reflect the benefits of Bulgaria's EU membership and Vietnam's ASEAN membership, as well as the growing role of Vietnam in Southeast Asia." He pointed out that the signing of free trade and investment protection agreements open up new opportunities for the promotion of Bulgarian-Vietnamese relations, describing the two documents as "the EU most ambitious trade agreements" that are "based on a joint commitment to open, just and rules-based trade liberalization and economic integration."

In his lecture, Zhelyazkov noted that "the world is going through tempestuous changes and is heading towards a new geopolitical, geoeconomic and geotechnological order. The global economy is turning eastward, and connectivity is the new geopolitics," he said. In his words, "the next decade will be defining for Europe's future and Europe's role in the world. The world needs Europe as a stable balance of economic, social and economic goals, a beacon of diversity and freedom, a true champion of multilateral solutions and approaches to cooperation in a world that is ever more dominated by nationalism."

"You will be utilizing the chances of this new world as statesmen, managers, scientists and intellectuals, you will carry on the advancement of relations between Vietnam and Bulgaria," Zhelyazkov said, addressing the students. "Relations between countries are motivated by cooperation and rivalry, by profit and interest, by sharing mutual values and respect among people," he pointed out. "Any Bulgarian statesman is proud to cite examples of Bulgarian-Vietnamese relations that have a strong emotional charge and are filled with lots of sincere history of human contacts," the head of Parliament said.

Zhelyazkov recalled that Bulgaria has helped with the education of thousands of young Vietnamese people during the years of Vietnam's postwar recovery. "With their experience and knowledge, the Bulgarian alumni in Vietnam are now the link that brings our countries together," he emphasized.

The National Assembly Chair identified education, learning and innovation as the areas for future new meetings between young people of Bulgaria and Vietnam. "The two countries' educated young generation now has a mammoth mission to build a world of a better and conflict-free future," Zhelyazkov said. At the end of his lecture, he quoted a Vietnamese proverb: "Horses run with their herd, birds fly with their flock."