State President Lương Cường welcomes his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev in Hà Nội on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photos

HÀ NỘI — State President Lương Cường and his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in various fields during their talks in Hà Nội on Monday.

The discussion followed an official welcome ceremony for the Bulgarian leader, who is paying a visit to Việt Nam from November 24 to 28.

President Cường noted that President Radev's visit was being made before the two countries celebrate the 75th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations in 2025. The visit was crucial to elevate and deepen the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Việt Nam and Bulgaria.

Cường confirmed that Việt Nam continued to value and wished to strengthen its collaboration with Bulgaria, one of Việt Nam's priority partners in central and eastern Europe.

He delivered sincere thanks for Bulgaria’s valuable assistance to Việt Nam in the past struggle for national liberation, as well as in the current national construction and development.

Expressing his pleasure in visiting Việt Nam for the first time, President Radev showed his pride in Bulgaria's active assistance to Việt Nam, especially in training more than 30,000 highly-skilled Vietnamese workers.

President Radev said Bulgaria had earned numerous impressive achievements in economic development, becoming one of the EU's digital transformation centres that is home to many companies holding important global positions in this field.

State President Lương Cường (right) and Bulgarian President Rumen Radev. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

He confirmed that Bulgaria considered Việt Nam an important partner in Southeast Asia and wished to promote cooperation with Việt Nam in all sectors.

The two leaders held in-depth discussions on major orientations and specific measures to strengthen cooperation.

They agreed to continue exchanges of delegations at all levels, especially at high levels, through all channels of the Party, State, Government, National Assembly and people-to-people exchanges to further consolidate political trust and mutual understanding, creating a foundation for expanding bilateral cooperation.

On the topic of trade and investment, the presidents agreed that it was an important pillar in bilateral relations and vowed to further promote existing cooperation mechanisms, such as the Intergovernmental Committee on Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation.

A view of the talks between the Vietnamese and Bulgarian leaders. — VNA/VNS Photo Lâm Khánh

They pledged to encourage ministries, sectors, localities and businesses from both countries to continue to effectively implement the Việt Nam - EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and strengthen investment cooperation in areas of strength for Bulgaria, such as information technology and supporting industries.

President Radev said that trade and investment were also one of the main purposes of his visit, confirming that Bulgaria would be ready to act as a bridge for Việt Nam to enter the EU market. Representatives from several large Bulgarian enterprises are accompanying him on his visit.

President Lương Cường thanked Bulgaria, one of the first EU member states to ratify the Việt Nam - EU Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA), and asked that the country urge other EU nations to quickly ratify EVIPA and encourage the European Commission to remove the illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) "yellow card" for Việt Nam's seafood exports.

The Bulgarian leader said the two countries needed to promote effective cooperation in traditional areas such as defence and security, education and training, science and technology, agriculture, culture and sports, tourism and people-to-people exchange, while promoting the expansion of collaboration in new areas such as the digital transformation, information technology, mineral processing and environment.

The leaders said Việt Nam and Bulgaria would continue to coordinate closely, share experiences and support each other at multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations, within the framework of ASEAN-EU to jointly address global challenges.

Discussing regional and international issues of mutual concern, including the East Sea (internationally known as South China Sea) issue, the two sides held that global conflicts must be resolved by peaceful means according to fundamental principles of the UN Charter and international law, especially UNCLOS 1982, to help maintain peace, security, and freedom of navigation and aviation around the world.

President Radev also invited President Cường to visit Bulgaria.

The two presidents witnessed the exchange of education cooperation documents.

After the talks, the two presidents witnessed the exchange of a number of cooperation documents between the two countries in education, economy and trade, and local cooperation. — VNS