The Bulgarian Head of State called on China to increase its investments in Bulgaria in information technologies, education and science

The review of the Chinese economic presence in our region shows that the Chinese investments in the neighboring countries are a couple of times higher than those in Bulgaria. We would not only like to catch up with this lag and attract big Chinese investors in the energy and transport infrastructure projects, but also adopt a new comprehensive approach which would unite strategic spheres such as industry, information technologies, culture, education and agriculture. This is what President Rumen Radev called on for during his meeting with the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China Li Keqiang at 2 Dondukov street.

Li Keqiang is visiting Bulgaria to take part in the summit of the 16+1 group for cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern Europe countries, which this year is held in Sofia. The Bulgarian Head of State voiced conviction that the Chinese Prime Minister’s visit in Bulgaria will give a strong impetus to the development of the relations of friendship and partnership between the two countries and will contribute to raising them to a higher level.

Rumen Radev and Li Keqiang shared the idea to establish a Center for studying the compatibility between the European and Chinese norms in Sofia, which should also coordinate future projects in spheres of mutual interest between the EU and the countries from the region. The idea is to overcome the current lack of sufficient information and lack of knowledge about the procedures and practices the EU and China have adopted. Li Keqiang will present the project at the forthcoming meeting in the 16+1 format.

Rumen Radev also called on for achieving synergy between the Chinese initiatives and the EU policies in our region.

The president highlighted the positive trend of increasing the trade between Bulgaria and China, voiced hope for speeding up the procedures for importing Bulgarian agricultural products in the People’s Republic of China and noted that there is still a great unused potential in economic partnership. “China is one of our most important partners. In the conditions of attack against the market economy principles, China became a pillar in safeguarding these principles,” the Head of State said. “We highly appreciate the friendship we have cultivated throughout all these years and believe that it should be strengthened because it is the basis for future useful contacts. We are pleased to have excellent political relations, based on mutual trust and respect. I would like to assure you that we are willing to develop our comprehensive friendly relations,” the President further said.

Prime Minister Li Keqiang, for his part, expressed the People’s Republic of China’s interest in making future investments in Bulgaria in the sphere of industry, information technologies, energy, transport, culture, education and scientific research, as well as in opening a direct airline between Bulgaria and China which will ensure a greater number of tourists from the two countries.

Rumen Radev thanked for the assistance provided by Prime Minister Li Keqiang in person and by Ambassador Zhang Haizhou for organizing the operations on the search for the Bulgarian mountain climber Boyan Petrov, who disappeared after an attempt to climb the Shishapangma peak in the Himalayas. At the meeting the President invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit Bulgaria at a time convenient for him.