Georg Georgiev: “Bulgaria and Iran will work actively for strengthening of trade and economic relations”
10 October 2017 News
Deputy Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev had a meeting with Iranian Charge d’Affairs in Sofia Hassan Doutaghi.
In the course of the meeting Deputy Minister Georgiev highlighted that in 2017 the two countries mark the 120th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations which shows the presence of deep ties between Bulgaria and Iran based on mutual respect.
He noted the activation of the political dialogue and the bilateral trade and economic cooperation in the recent years. He stressed that in spite of the relative increase of two-way trade which has increased around five fold in the recent years, there is far bigger untapped potential which should be utilized to the maximum possible extent. “We will work very actively for the promotion of the trade and economic ties. The development of projects like the Persian Gulf – Black Sea international transport corridor are of high importance in this respect,” Georg Georgiev stressed.
The Deputy Minister said at the meeting that there is a considerable potential for cooperation with Iran in priority areas, such as energy, tourism and agriculture. He added that Bulgaria is visited by around 22,000 Iranian citizens annually and voiced hope that their number will grow with a view to the country’s potential in the tourist sector. “For us, the projects in the field of energy are of particular importance. Bulgaria is a factor in the energy sector. 80 percent of the transmission infrastructure in the region is on Bulgarian territory and we are highly interested in the possibility of having joint projects,” Georg Georgiev said.
The two diplomats were unanimous that the strengthening of economic ties will promote the relations in other spheres of mutual interest as well.
Iranian Charge d’Affairs in Sofia Hassan Doutaghi voiced the opinion that the economic climate is favourable for the development of joint energy projects. In his view the dialogue between Bulgaria and Iran both in bilateral terms and on issues of international and regional importance should be further promoted, so that the two countries would be able to respond adequately to the contemporary challenges.
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