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Rumen Radev: We Should Do our Best so that Bulgaria’s Strategic Position as a Gateway to the EU Can be Utilized as Soon as Possible and in the Best Possible Way

We should do our best so that Bulgaria’s strategic position as Asia’s gateway to Europe can be utilized as soon as possible and in the best possible way. This is what President Rumen Radev told representatives of the Bulgarian media today on the occasion of his participation in the session “Dialogue between the Chinese state enterprises and the Bulgarian authorities” within the World Economic Forum, which is held in the Chinese town of Dalian. 

In his statement at the forum the Bulgarian Head of State highlighted the trust between Bulgaria and China at the top level and the active political dialogue between the institutions in the two countries. Rumen Radev called for materializing this trust in the interest of the people and the business through the projects of the One belt, One road initiative and the multilateral partnership within the “17+1” initiative.

“Railway connections, highways, water transport, should pass through our territory, ports and airports should be modernized. I hope that with the help of Chinese investments this can happen more quickly,” the President emphasized. In Rumen Radev’s words, with its strategic location, qualified work force and favorable for investors tax policy, Bulgaria is a natural choice for implementing successful projects.

The Head of State reiterated the good examples of the Bulgarian-Chinese economic relations and the mutual interest in their follow-up development. The biggest tourist operator in China uses software produced by a Bulgarian company.

In Rumen Radev’s opinion, however, we cannot speak of serious projects in infrastructure, of investments and large-scale cooperation, if there is no direct airline to connect the two countries. The President called for establishing a research and innovative center, which would “place bilateral cooperation on the track of high technologies, competitiveness and high added value.”

Leaders of leading Chinese corporations in the sphere of investments and innovations, information technologies and communications, energy, shipping, machine building, chemical industry, science and others took part in the session “Dialogue between the Chinese state enterprises and the Bulgarian authorities.” They voiced their interest in implementing joint projects with representatives of the Bulgarian business.

Earlier the Bulgarian President held a meeting with Su Tzin, governor of the Hubei province. The province has a population of 75 million and had a GDP of 500 billion dollars in 2018 and is among the leading pharmaceutical producers in China, also of machines, steel, and of renewable energy sources. In the Head of State’s words, thanks to its strategic location, Bulgaria has the potential to establish itself as one of the most promising routes within the One belt, One road initiative. This creates a lot of opportunities for investors in the sphere of energy and transport infrastructure. The access to Bulgarian ports at the Black Sea and the river Danube and also to any kind of transport makes our country a natural logistic center for the transportation of goods to the common European market.

In Dalian Rumen Radev held talks with Klaus Schwab, founder and President of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Head of State voiced Bulgaria’s interest in continuing to be an active participant in the world forum, within which strategies for the future of the economy and social activity are formulated and visions and solutions are offered.