They were welcomed at the airport by NA Vice Chairman Nguyen Duc Hai, Head of the NA Committee for External Relations Vu Hai Ha, and Deputy Head of the NA Committee for Legal Affairs Ngo Trung Thanh, Bulgarian Ambassador to Vietnam Pavlin Todorov, and Vietnamese Ambassador to Bulgaria Do Hoang Long.

This is the first visit by a high-ranking Bulgarian leader to Vietnam over a decade, following Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev's visit in October 2013. Particularly, it is a reciprocal visit following the official Bulgaria visit by Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue in September last year.

The Vietnam visit will contribute to strengthening and nurturing the already robust political relations between the two countries through the Party, State, Government and people-to-people channels. It will present an opportunity for both sides to engage in discussions on global and regional issues of shared concern, intensify substantial and effective bilateral ties, particularly in areas of their strengths such as trade-investment, education, health care, culture, tourism, labour, and locality-to-locality cooperation.

Bulgarian NA Speaker visits Ninh Binh province

A delegation of the Bulgarian National Assembly headed by Speaker Rosen Dimitrov Jeliazkov had a working trip to the northern province of Ninh Binh on January 6, within the framework of the Speaker's official visit to Vietnam from January 5-9.

Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Doan Minh Huan briefed the Bulgarian guests on the local socio-economic development, potential, and advantages, while highlighting the province's tourism attractions.

Hoa Lu located in Ninh Binh province was the capital of Dai Co Viet (Great Viet) - the first centralised feudal state in Vietnam which existed from 968 to 1010 AD. The province is also home to a UNESCO-recognised world cultural and natural heritage - Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex.

Ninh Binh pursues a green, environmentally-friendly development model, taking tourism as an economic spearhead, high-tech industry as the driving force, cultural industry and heritage economy as a breakthrough, and ecological agriculture as a pillar, he said.

In 2023, the province posted a growth rate of 7.27%, ranking 23rd out of 63 cities and provinces in Vietnam. It eyes to become a centrally-run city by 2035 with the characteristics of a millennium heritage city, a creative city, deeply integrated into the network of heritage cities and heritage economies and cultural industry worldwide.

Huan said he hopes that the visit by the Bulgarian delegation will open up opportunities for the province to expand cooperation with heritage urban centres in Bulgaria, and Ninh Binh wishes to learn about the way Bulgaria develops tourism.

For his part, Speaker Jeliazkov affirmed that the visit demonstrates the desire to further tighten the good friendship between the two countries and the National Assemblies.

He wished that activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the two countries' diplomatic relations in 2025 would be held and marked with good results in the bilateral ties in all aspects.

On January 6 afternoon, the Bulgarian delegation is scheduled to visit the Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex.

Source: VNA