Hanoi (VNA) - National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue’s upcoming official visit to Bulgaria is expected to helpconsolidate and enhance time-tested friendship and multifaceted cooperationbetween the two countries in general and the two parliaments in particular.

Hue’s trip is made 15 years after the visit to the Europeancountry by then NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong in 2008.

Vietnam and Bulgaria set up their diplomatic relations onFebruary 8, 1950. Over the past years, the bilateral relationship has enjoyedpositive developments in all fields from politics-diplomacy, economy,trade, defence-security, science-technology, education-training, culture tosports and tourism.

In addition to regular visits by high-ranking leaders, the twocountries have maintained close cooperation at regional and internationalforums, particularly within the framework of the United Nations, the ASEAN-EU cooperation,and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Bilateral economic and trade collaboration has also developed positively inrecent times. Bulgaria is one of the EU countries taking the lead in ratifyingthe Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Partnership and Cooperation (PCA), aswell as promoting the signing and ratification of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement(EVFTA) and EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

Two-way trade reached 203.6 million USD in 2022 and 147.25 million USD in thefirst eight months of this year.

Regarding investment, as of August 2023, Bulgaria had 14valid investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital of 31.32million USD.

People-to-people exchanges between the two countries are continuouslyexpanding. Cultural activities have been held regularly in both countries, contributingto promoting people-to-people exchanges and enhancing mutual understandingbetween the two countries' people.

Education-training is a traditional field of cooperationbetween the two countries, which has been always tightened thanks to thethousands of Vietnamese people living and studying in Bulgaria. The twocountries signed an agreement on education cooperation for the 2019-2023 period.

There are currently over 1,000 Vietnamese people living inthe European nation.

In terms of parliamentary cooperation, the two countrieshave maintained coordination and mutual support at multilateral parliamentaryforums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Asia-EuropeParliamentary Partnership Meeting (ASEP).

The top legislator’s official visit from September 24-26 aimedto affirm the importance Vietnam has attached to its traditional friendshipwith Bulgaria.

During his stay in Bulgaria, Hue will hold talks andmeetings with senior Bulgarian leaders, attend a law policy forum to promotebilateral cooperation, and deliver a policy speech at the University ofNational and World Economy in Sofia capital.

The visit also aims to enhance collaboration between the twoparliaments, as they plan to update their memorandum of understanding with newcooperation contents to suit the international and regional situation as wellas the relationship between the two countries.

One of the very important contents of this visit is toprompt Bulgaria in particular and the European Union in general in effectivelyimplementing the EVFTA, and urging the Bulgarian NA to soon ratify the EVIPA,said Don Tuan Phong, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee forForeign Affairs./.