Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with visiting Bulgarian President Rumen Radev in Hanoi on November 25, during which the host affirmed that Bulgaria is one of Vietnam's top priority partners in Central and Eastern Europe.

Welcoming Radev and the high-level Bulgarian delegation, Chinh expressed his belief that their visit will contribute to deepening traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between the two countries.

Vietnam will never forget the support and valuable help that Bulgaria has provided Vietnam during its past struggle for independence and reunification, as well as national construction and development at present, he said.

For his part, Radev expressed his delight to make his first official visit to Vietnam and his admiration on the country's development achievements, affirming Bulgaria always treasures to develop ties with Vietnam, an top leading partner of Bulgaria in Southeast Asia.

The two leaders expressed pleasure with the sound development of Vietnam-Bulgaria relations in various fields, saying that both sides have exchanged delegations at levels, and trade and investment cooperation has seen encouraging progress, though it is still yet to match their sound political relations.

Radev agreed with Chinh's proposals on six key areas of cooperation that the two countries need to strengthen in the coming time. Firstly, it is necessary to enhance political trust through increasing delegation exchange, thereby promoting cooperation across various fields. Bulgaria continues supporting stance of ASEAN and Vietnam on the East Sea, based on respect for international law, particularly the 1982 United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and the settlement of disputes by peaceful measures, contributing to maintaining peace, stability, security, and freedom of navigation in the region.

Secondly, Vietnam and Bulgaria will boost trade and investment cooperation with the aim of raising bilateral trade turnover to 500 million USD in the coming time.

Thirdly, they will strengthen education cooperation, a traditional area of collaboration between the two countries.

Fourthly, they will promote enhance labour cooperation, a field with significant complementary potential.

Fifthly, they will increase coordination and mutual support at regional and international forums, such as the United Nations, ASEM, and the ASEAN-EU framework.

Sixthly, they agreed to promote people-to-people exchanges and collaboration in organising activities commemorating the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations in 2025.

Radev said Vietnam is one of Bulgaria's most promising markets in Southeast Asia, noting that nearly 30 leading Bulgarian companies are accompanying him in this visit. They operate in such areas as information and communication technology, semiconductors, electronics, optics, machinery and specialised equipment, automobile manufacturing, medical devices, electrical equipment, shipbuilding, and the defence and aerospace industries. They are expected to attend a Vietnam-Bulgaria business forum in Ho Chi Minh City on November 27.

In response to Chinh's proposals, Radev affirmed that he will advocate for the remaining EU countries to swiftly ratify the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) and support the European Commission (EC) in removing the "yellow card" warning against Vietnam's seafood exports to the EU market.

Both sides agreed to continue effectively implementing the cooperation framework, including signed agreements, and to strengthen collaboration in traditional areas such as defence-security, trade-investment, science-technology, education-training, medicine, culture, and people-to-people exchanges. Additionally, they committed to expanding cooperation to potential complementary areas such as digital transformation, digital data building and connectivity, artificial intelligence, electronics, labour, agriculture, and food security.

The two sides also agreed to support each other in serving as gateways for their goods to enter the ASEAN and EU markets.

The PM took the occasion to thank Bulgarian authorities at all levels for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Bulgaria to live, work, and integrate into the host country. He noted that major cities in Vietnam, such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang, and Hue, have friendship associations with Bulgaria.

Radev highly valued the contributions of the Vietnamese community to Bulgaria’s socio-economic development and their role as a bridge fostering the traditional friendship between the two countries.

𓃲 He also acknowledged the contributions of 30,000 Vietnamese alumni and trainees who studied and worked in Bulgaria, while thanking Vietnam for creating favourable conditions for Bulgarian citizens to live and work in Vietnam./.