Bulgarian Head of State meets with Singaporean President

 

Bilateral relations with Singapore have important significance beyond the development of trade, economic and investment partnership, namely - Bulgaria to be able to apply the formula of the success of the Singaporean model of socio-economic development achieved in the lifetime of a generation. This could happen in our country if there is public and political will to promote education, zero tolerance for corruption, enlightened and competent government leadership that is fully committed to the development of the country. This is what President Rumen Radev told Bulgarian journalists in Singapore, where he is visiting. 

 

Today, the Head of State held bilateral meetings with his Singaporean counterpart Tharman Shanmugaratnam, as well as with the country's Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. One of the goals of my visit is to have a dialogue at the highest political level because it is important for the development of cooperation in a number of areas of mutual interest, where there is great potential, the Bulgarian Head of State said. Regarding his meetings with the President and the Prime Minister of Singapore, Rumen Radev said that there is political will for joint partnerships and during the in-depth talks interest was shown in the development of bilateral cooperation. I expect a really positive development soon, but an important condition is to have a stable, regular, predictable government, the President said. 

 

The Head of State noted that the Singaporean state has developed one of the most prosperous, innovative and competitive economies in the world and is at the top of many rankings in terms of welfare and quality of life. In terms of area, Singapore is more than a hundred times smaller than Bulgaria, in terms of population it is almost as large as ours - 6 million people, and it has five times the gross domestic product and ten times the exports, becoming a leading investor in countries such as China, India and Indonesia, the President said. He added that the most important factors in achieving this economic and social progress were laid down by the founder of modern Singapore and first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, and were expressed in the realisation that the most important resource was people. Among the principles that have led to Singapore's success are support for education as the key to progress, clean and strong institutions, enlightened and competent government leadership, zero tolerance for corruption, an open and free market economy, and making the most of its strategic geographic location. There are many things we can learn from. One of them is the development of the sense in society of sharing the common success and common responsibility, Rumen Radev said. 

 

President Radev also opened a business forum with the participation of representatives of Bulgarian and Singaporean companies.