An official delegation led by the Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications Ivailo Moskovski visited Tehran during 6-9 March 2016 for the work of the 18th session of the Joint Bulgarian-Iranian Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. The official delegation included the Deputy Minister of Economy Lyuben Petrov, the Deputy Minister of Energy Mr. Zhecho Stankov and more than 40 representatives of the Bulgarian state administration. Parallel to the official talks a Business-to-Business (B2B) forum was held with the participation of more than 70 representatives of different Bulgarian companies working in the fields of transport, energy, mining, construction, environmental protection and alternative energy sources, water management, food industry, machinery, computer and communications technology, tourism and their Iranian counterparts.

The Joint Commission discussed the connectivity of the Iranian railway network to Bulgaria through the territory of Turkey and the construction of the multi-modal transport corridor Iran-Armenia/Azerbaijan-Georgia-Black Sea-Bulgaria-Greece.

Bulgaria was identified as the doorway of Iran to Europe and Iran as Bulgaria’s bridge to the Persian Gulf. Also discussed were the restoration of the links between the banking systems of the two countries; the facilitation of the procedures for transportation of goods; the increase of the tourist flow and the opening of direct air line between Sofia and Teheran. Minister Moskovski held talks with the first Vice President of IR Iran Eshaq Jahangiri, the Minister of Road and Urban Development Mr. Abbas Akhoundi, the Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mr. Mahmoud Vaezi and the Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mr. Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh. The 18th session of the Joint Committee successfully concluded with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding that provides guidelines for the deepening the bi-lateral economic relations. During the visit the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Tehran hosted a reception on the occasion of the Bulgarian National day – 3rd of March, and in honor of the visiting high-level delegation.