The Speaker of Indian parliament’s Lower House, the first woman to ever hold this post, extended her warm and sympathetic greetings towards the Bulgarian deputies. She thanked the president of the Bulgarian National Assembly for the respects paid to Mahatma Gandhi at the very first day of the delegation’s visit. The father of our nation, she noted, had succeeded in extracting the wisdom of the ancient books of India and to apply it to contemporary politics and every day life of the common person. He endorsed the values of dialogue, nonviolence and consensus as the basic constructive elements of democratic development.

Meira Kumar noticed with satisfaction that the friendly relations and cooperation between Bulgaria and India enjoy a long and rich tradition, based on shared democratic values, human rights and supremacy of the law. She expressed deep gratitude for the support rendered to India on Bulgaria’s part in international organizations and for the election of India as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the period 2011-2012 in particular. She lauded the bilateral contacts at high level including between parliaments and said the latter contribute to the fruitful cooperation in numerous fields such as the military, science and technologies, culture and academic exchange. She underscored the necessity to reinforce the trade and economic cooperation.

In her expose the president of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva emphasized on the recent status of Bulgaria as EU member and the opportunities this status opens for the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and India. She underscored that Bulgaria provides to foreign investors the best conditions for business in Europe and thus is an attractive destination. She pointed out that the upcoming signing of the Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Union will also give a strong impetus to the bilateral relations in the economic and commercial spheres with Bulgaria.

Tsetska Tsacheva encouraged investors form India to come to Bulgaria, saying the country could serve the foreign investors as an entrance door to the big European market.

Tsetska Tsacheva wrote in the honorary book of the Indian parliament the following: “India is the biggest democracy in the World and a rising global power, a country with a rich and ancient culture with an immense contribution to human civilization. The high growth rates of the Indian economy, the remarkable achievements in the fields of science, space research and information technologies raise admiration. The contacts between the two parliaments, which have rich traditions, contribute to the further upward development of the cooperation and partnership with friendly India”.

A cultural programme of classical Indian dances, recreating myths from the antiquity, was presented at the parliament of India, in honor of the National Assembly president Tsetska Tsacheva.