Bulgaria and Vietnam will cultivate their relations toward establishing a strategic partnership and will put joint efforts into developing a new model for economic cooperation. In Hanoi Presidents Rosen Plevneliev and Truong Tan Sang announced a joint declaration for strategic partnership and an annex to it titled “A new model for economic cooperation.”
With the declaration Bulgaria and Vietnam voice their will to expand and diversify their trade and economic cooperation in sectors in which the two countries have relative advantages and unfulfilled potential. Among the sectors of mutual interest are those of infrastructure, planning, the development of the urban regions and the public transport system, the efficient use of energy, environment protection, the processing of food and others.
The two countries have voiced their willingness to promote cooperation in the agriculture, stock-breeding and fishery and energy sectors as well.
An active defense and strategic dialogue on all levels is due to be held in the defense sector; expanding the opportunities for the training of staff; exchanging experience in the sphere of the training and preparation of contingents to participate in international UN peacekeeping missions, in managing crises and reacting to disasters and accidents in times of peace; promoting the bi-lateral military and technological cooperation; stimulating the activities in the military medical sector, recreation, sports and the cultural exchange in the sphere of military cooperation.
Bulgaria and Vietnam will continue to encourage their traditional cooperation in the education sector, in the sphere of culture they will support concrete programs and activities, such as the exchange of culture delegations and artistic ensembles, organizing film weeks and exhibitions that present the cultures and peoples of the two countries.
“The Bulgarian side takes on the commitment to help Vietnam in the restoration of historical monuments, as well as in training specialists in the sphere of preserving the cultural heritage and archeology,” the text of the Declaration says.
The direct contacts between the agencies and tourist enterprises in the two countries will be encouraged so that the markets can be researched and the opportunities for organizing different types of tourism can be explored. With its developed tourist industry, the Bulgarian side takes on the commitment to share its experience, to encourage tourism and provide assistance to the human resources training and development in Vietnam’s tourist sector.
By issuing the Declaration, Bulgaria and Vietnam are voicing their determination to strengthen their efficient cooperation in the spheres of science and technology by boosting the existing interaction, identifying new spheres of cooperation and encouraging the use of the products that are the result of joint scientific research for commercial aims.
The text of the document emphasizes the willingness of the two countries to strengthen their interaction within the UN and other international forums on global, regional and security issues. Bulgaria and Vietnam will exchange views on the threats in the security sector, fighting international terrorism and the distribution of mass destruction weapons, as well as organized crime, piracy and illegal migration, ensuring sustainable growth and environment protection, the rule of law and human rights, and also on other issues of mutual interest.
With this declaration Bulgaria confirms its support for further strengthening the relations between Vietnam and the EU on the basis of the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation between the EU and Vietnam. The two countries also express their support for concluding the negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement between Vietnam and the European Union as early as possible.
Bi-lateral trade, energy and tourism are the major directions in which Bulgaria and Vietnam will optimize their bi-lateral relations, the annex “New model for economic cooperation” to the declaration for strategic partnership says.
The new model for economic cooperation provides for diversifying, optimizing and balancing the bi-lateral trade. Among the measures planned to this effect are a periodic control of the implementation of the decisions made by the Vietnam-Bulgaria intergovernmental committee for economic, commercial and scientific and technological cooperation, encouraging the business contacts by regularly organizing business forums, expanding the list of goods in the mutual trade, particularly regarding the goods with high VAT.
Real opportunities for diversifying the bi-lateral trade have been identified in the sectors of chemical industry, pharmaceutical industry, light industry and agriculture.
In the energy sector, the two countries consider strengthening their cooperation in the energy security sector, the development of the energy markets and the energy infrastructure, green energy, as well as in the sphere of training specialists to meet the needs of Vietnam’s nuclear energy.
In tourism Bulgaria and Vietnam will encourage the direct contacts between the Bulgarian and Vietnamese tourist agencies, the greater exchange of information, as well as using the potential of the big number of Vietnamese citizens that have studied and worked in Bulgaria so as to enhance the tourist exchange. Bulgaria is also confirming its readiness to provide assistance in training specialists for Vietnam’s tourist sector.
At a ceremony in the Presidential Palace in Hanoi attended by Presidents Rosen Plevneliev and Truong Tan Sang, a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology, a Framework Agreement on bi-lateral scientific and technological cooperation between the Institute of Metal Science, Equipment and Technologies With Hydroaerodynamics Center at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Shipbuilding Sciences and Technologies at the Vietnamese Ministry of Communication and Transport, as well as a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency and the Vietnam News Agency, were signed.