National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue visits the city of Burgas

Within the framework of the official visit to Bulgaria, after concluding activities in the capital Sofia, on the morning of September 26, local time, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and the high-ranking delegation of the Vietnamese National Assembly visited the city of Burgas - the capital of Burgas province and an important industrial, transportation, cultural and tourism center of southeastern Bulgaria.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue received Mr. Dimitar Nikolov, Mayor of Burgas city. (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

Here, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue received Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov.

On behalf of the government and people of Burgas, Mayor Dimitar Nikolov warmly welcomed National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue to the city during his first official visit to Bulgaria; at the same time, he emphasized that the visit is very important to discuss measures to promote cooperation between the two countries and localities of the two countries, especially in the fields of education, culture and tourism.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue expressed his pleasure to visit Burgas, a famous city on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. Sharing some results of his official visit to Bulgaria, the National Assembly Chairman affirmed that during the talks and meetings with Bulgarian leaders and meetings with leaders of several Bulgarian political parties, both sides agreed to strengthen the Vietnam-Bulgaria relationship and cooperation through all channels: political parties, the National Assembly, the Government, people-to-people exchanges and local and business cooperation.

Emphasizing that Bulgaria is one of the first 10 countries to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with Vietnam, the National Assembly Chairman shared that more than 30,000 Vietnamese researchers, officials and technicians who have studied, researched and trained in Bulgaria have always considered Bulgaria as their second home, many of whom have become high-ranking leaders of Vietnam such as former National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung and former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan.

Mayor Dimitar Nikolov said that he and the people of Burgas have always had a lot of affection for Vietnam. Since 2015, Burgas has been twinned with Quang Ninh province of Vietnam. In 2023, Burgas Universities have proposed to accept foreign students, including students from Vietnam. Mayor Dimitar Nikolov hopes to continue promoting educational cooperation with Vietnam and expanding cooperation with other localities of Vietnam.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue stated that Quang Ninh is one of the fastest growing localities in Vietnam; he suggested that Mayor Dimitar Nikolov soon visit Vietnam and Quang Ninh province to promote relations between the two localities, especially in the field of tourism.

Introducing the potential for cooperation between Vietnam and Bulgaria, the National Assembly Chairman noted that economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries is still low, Bulgarian enterprises have invested in Vietnam with a total capital of about 30 million USD, while no Vietnamese enterprises have invested in Bulgaria although Vietnamese enterprises have invested in many countries around the world. Therefore, through this visit, the leaders of the two sides agreed to hold a meeting of the Vietnam-Bulgaria Intergovernmental Committee to promote cooperation between the two countries.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue highly appreciated Bulgaria's strategic position, saying that Vietnamese enterprises can cooperate with Bulgarian enterprises to penetrate the European market as well as the Balkan countries and vice versa, Bulgaria can invest in Vietnam and thereby invest in the large ASEAN market with more than 650 million people, the 5th largest economy in the world.

Bulgaria has a deep-water seaport and is a potential tourist center with a developed maritime and logistics industry. This is also an area in which Vietnam is attracting investment. The two sides can also cooperate in labor, especially highly skilled labor.

Informing that, within the framework of the visit, the two sides organized a Policy and Law Forum on promoting bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and Bulgaria with the participation of about 150 businesses, the National Assembly Chairman affirmed that Vietnam is a country with an attractive investment and business environment, as evidenced by the recent visit of the President of the Republic of Korea to Vietnam, which was attended by senior leaders of 250 leading corporations and businesses, and the recent visit of the US President was also accompanied by many leaders of US corporations.

Mayor Burgas expressed his impression of Vietnam's development, believing that in the near future, Vietnam will develop remarkably. The mayor also said that there are currently many Bulgarian children and young people who love and want to learn the languages ​​of Asian countries, and hoped that Vietnam would open Vietnamese language classes in Bulgarian localities, which would contribute significantly to promoting understanding and friendship between the two countries.

Regarding the investment and business environment in Burgas, Mayor Dimitar Nikolov affirmed that the city government always creates favorable conditions for businesses. Currently, the city is developing industrial zones, and Burgas will reserve land for Vietnamese businesses if they want to invest here.

The Mayor affirmed that Burgas City will act as a bridge for Vietnamese businesses in Europe, creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese people to integrate into the local community. The Mayor of Burgas also suggested that the Vietnam-Bulgaria Intergovernmental Committee should add a topic on tourism because this is Burgas' strength.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue agreed with Mayor Burgas’ proposal; highly appreciated the city’s role and position on the “tourism map” of Europe. The National Assembly Chairman also said that during the visit, the two countries also signed a cooperation agreement in the field of tourism, creating conditions to promote cooperation in this field in the coming time.

Welcoming the proposal to open Vietnamese language classes for Bulgarians, the National Assembly Chairman said that he would ask the Vietnamese Government and Ministry of Education and Training to study and implement it.

Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov congratulated National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue on his successful official visit to Bulgaria and wished the National Assembly Chairman to return to visit Burgas and be a great and respected friend of the city.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue listens to an introduction about Burgas port. (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

Also this afternoon, continuing the program of activities, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and members of the delegation visited BMF Burgas Port.

Informing the Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly, the Port leader said: The BMF Burgas Port System was established in 2011, including more than 100 affiliated units in many fields connecting business cooperation with 26 countries.

During the development process, with Bulgaria's important strategic position, the Port's leaders said they have been focusing on investing in the digital, energy, and transportation services sectors for international customers.

Over the past 11 years, the company has invested up to 165 million € to upgrade and modernize its infrastructure to meet the needs of multi-industry business development.

The Port leaders also expressed their confidence in the good relationship between the two countries, the number of customers and import and export goods of Vietnam (mainly rice, steel and equipment) is increasing. According to the report, the amount of imported goods into Vietnam through the Port is nearly 36 thousand tons.

The National Assembly Chairman and members of the delegation visited the Burgas Regional Ethnographic Museum, which introduces many unique cultural products of the local people of the neighboring country.

On this occasion, the National Assembly Chairman discussed and thoroughly learned about the organization and preservation of cultural products, the similarities in traditional culture of the two countries' people, and made suggestions to relevant agencies of the two countries to promote cooperation in this field in the coming time.

This is the final activity concluding the working schedule during the official visit to Bulgaria of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and the high-ranking delegation of our National Assembly.

People

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