President Rosen Plevneliev received a delegation of the Chinese city of Shenzhen, led by the mayor of the city Xu Qin, which is visiting Bulgaria to attend the joint Bulgarian-Chinese business forum “Plovdiv- Shenzhen: cooperation and development 2014.” Within the visit Shenzhen and Plovdiv signed a fraternization agreement between the two cities.
“We are here to materialize the agreement reached between the Heads of State of Bulgaria and the People’s Republic of China on expanding the cooperation in all spheres,” the mayor of Shenzhen said. The GDP of the megapolis with a population of 15 million has reached 231 billion US dollars. The city allocates four percent of the GDP to innovations and is a high-tech and development center.
The President voiced his firm support for any good idea and project which can contribute to the active partnership between Bulgaria and China. “We offer the best price-quality ratio and safety level for the Chinese investors, who can set foothold in a market of 800 million consumers,” Rosen Plevneliev said. He highly appreciated the concrete agreements reached between representatives of leading Chinese and Bulgarian companies at the investments forum in Plovdiv.
President Rosen Plevneliev and mayor Xu Qin highlighted the great potential for cooperation between Bulgaria and China in high-tech spheres such as mobile communications, biotechnologies, car industry, including the production of electro-mobiles, e-governance and network services.
President Plevneliev recalled that Plovdiv is the center of food industry and there are opportunities for Bulgarian and Chinese companies to jointly produce food for export to the European and third markets. “Although we have an enormous potential, we need a dynamic global partner. This can be Shenzhen,” the Head of State said. Mayor Xu Qin invited Rosen Plevneliev to visit the Chinese megapolis.
In the tourist sector, the idea for launching a common tourist product developed by Bulgaria and neighboring countries from Southeastern Europe and specifically targeted at tourists from China was put forward. “The residents of Shenzhen have a high standard of living and are strongly motivated to travel. This opens up a lot of opportunities for an exchange of tourists with Bulgaria,” the mayor of the Chinese city commented.
The cooperation in the education and culture sectors was also highlighted. Shenzhen will award two scholarships a year for the tuition of Bulgarian students from Plovdiv.