Opinions & Interviews
Belarus seeks to develop friendly relations with Bulgaria
MINSK, 11 September (BelTA) - Belarus attaches great importance to the development of friendly relations with Bulgaria in the political, trade, economic, humanitarian and other areas, Chairman of the Council of the Republic Mikhail Myasnikovich said as he met with Bulgaria's Deputy Foreign Minister Petko Doykov, BelTA learned from the press service of the upper house of the Belarusian parliament.
The parties reviewed trade and economic cooperation and discussed the preparations for a visit of a Belarusian parliamentary delegation headed by Speaker Mikhail Myasnikovich to Bulgaria in October this year. “We attach great importance to the development of friendly relations with Bulgaria,” the chairman of the Council of the Republic stressed. He offered to discuss opportunities to strengthen bilateral partnership.
Given the potential of the two states, we can talk about closer political, trade, economic, and humanitarian contacts, Mikhail Myasnikovich said. “I think we should step up work in these areas. There are good reasons for that," he said. "First of all, we need to step up contacts at the high and highest levels. There is a certain deficit here, and we need to seriously address this issue,” he noted.
Mikhail Myasnikovich suggested expanding inter-parliamentary cooperation and revitalizing the work of the parliamentary friendship groups. “I would like to see us implement more concrete projects,” Mikhail Myasnikovich added.
The Council of the Republic, as the chamber of regions, pays special attention to the development of regional cooperation. “We have a lot of agreements on friendship, cooperation between cities. We would like this work to be as specific as possible not declarative," the head of the upper house of the Belarusian parliament noted.
Mikhail Myasnikovich also offered to discuss trade and economic cooperation. “We could set up joint companies and create conditions for our business to collaborate more actively," he said. Mikhail Myasnikovich suggested that Bulgarian companies become residents of the Hi-Tech Park, or the China-Belarus Industrial Park. “For Bulgarian business, cooperation with Belarus is an opportunity to enter the promising markets of the Eurasian Economic Union,” the speaker said.
The parties discussed ways to strengthen the partnership in education. The Bulgarian side has been invited to set up an appropriate working group. The parties also considered the opportunities to expand cooperation in science and technology. Bulgarian scientists could work more actively in Belarusian laboratories and vice versa. A suggestion was made to consider cooperation between scientists in international projects financed by the EU.
In turn, Petko Doykov thanked for the proposals and initiatives. He stressed that the willingness to develop bilateral relations is mutual. “Bulgaria views Belarus as a country with which we want to develop relations. We see the dialogue and cooperation between our countries in recent years in a very positive light. This dialogue needs to be developed further,” he noted.
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