Minister Vigenin: Bulgaria highly appreciates and wants to expand its relations with India
25 October 2013 News
"The development of the relations with the countries of Asia, including India, plays a key role among the foreign policy priorities of Bulgaria. I have the ambition to work for the strengthening and the intensification of the contacts and the cooperation between our two countries." This was said by Minister Kristian Vigenin during his meeting with Divyabh Manchanda, Ambassador of India to Bulgaria. They discussed the opportunities for deepening the bilateral cooperation in various fields and strengthening the political dialogue. Among the topics of conversation was also the upcoming participation of the Bulgarian Foreign Minister at the 11th Asia- Europe Meeting (ASEM ) to be held in mid-November in India.
"The Bulgarian government sees the expansion of the bilateral economic relations as a key priority and one of the goals that we have set is to expand the functions of our diplomatic missions abroad in this direction," said the Foreign Minister. He emphasized that there are good opportunities for strengthening the bilateral economic relations between Bulgaria and India. In this context it is important to make efforts towards promoting the potential of Bulgaria as an attractive destination with favorable conditions for investment, which is part of the huge EU single market, said Kristian Vigenin.
Ambassador Manchanda emphasized the traditionally good cooperation between Bulgaria and India. He defined as a positive step for the development of the economic relations between the two countries the option, introduced in February 2012, holders of valid Schengen visas to visit our country without the need of Bulgarian visa. "We will continue to work towards facilitating and speeding the procedures for issuing visas , especially for business representatives, which will help to increase the investors’ interest in our country," said Minister Vigenin.
Kristian Vigenin and Divyabh Manchanda shared the opinion that the efforts towards preserving and strengthening the bilateral political dialogue at a high level between Bulgaria and India are very important. In 2014 we mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, which provides a good opportunity for joint initiatives. The two expressed their common desire to strengthen the cooperation between Bulgaria and India in the fields of tourism, education, science and culture, which is a prerequisite for a better understanding and reconciliation between the peoples of both countries.