Beijing and Sofia may develop and strengthen their cooperation in different fields, is the common position shared by the President of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Beijing’s People’s Congress Du Deyin. A Bulgarian parliamentary delegation, headed by Tsetska Tsacheva, is on an official visit to China.

Du Deyin announced that a delegation of representatives of the city of Beijing would participate in a meeting of the mayors of the capitals of the countries from the Initiative for cooperation between China and Central and East European countries (16+1) in September in Sofia. Bulgaria has huge natural resources, its economy is developing and that is why I think that there is a great potential for strengthening the bilateral relations in the fields of economy, trade, production, transport, information technologies, agriculture, and tourism, he pointed out.

I am convinced that during the forum to be hosted by the Bulgarian capital we will outline concrete projects between Sofia and Beijing, which will be implemented in the future, Tsetska Tsacheva underlined. Sofia is a perfect place to attract foreign investments, she said and specified that Bulgaria offered political stability, a reformed judicial system, attractive tax conditions and perfectly trained young experts who could meet the expectations of investors. I hope that the exchange of opinions on Sofia’s achievements in the recent years, including infrastructure projects, the metro, the reconstruction of boulevards, will be of interest to the governance of Beijing and the managers of companies that have the capacity to invest, the President of the Bulgarian Parliament added. Although Beijing is a megalopolis of huge dimensions and a modern new city, it has preserved the spirit and traditions of the past, stated Tsetska Tsacheva. Both Sofia and Beijing are cities with ancient history and their cooperation could yield good results, she added.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Beijing’s People’s Congress Du Deyin noted that the city was huge, 21 million persons lived there and this created difficulties with the traffic, and the air was polluted. We are making efforts to do so that Beijing is basically taking the function of a capital and its other functions to be allocated to adjacent provinces, he said. Our aim is to ensure that the city is the political, cultural, educational, scientific and technical centre, Du Deyin added. In 2015, Beijing’s GDP was 2.3 trillion Chinese Yuan Renminby and the main share in it is attributable to the services sector: 79 per cent, noted the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Beijing’s People’s Congress. I am convinced that the visit of the Bulgarian delegation will promote cooperation between the two countries as they wish to develop their bilateral relations in different fields, he added.

Sofia is visited by many Chinese citizens; nevertheless, I think there is a potential for increasing the number of tourists and for better knowledge of the cultural and historical treasures of Bulgaria and China, stated Tsetska Tsacheva. She also outlined the role of the Confucius Institute at the Sofia University, which attracts interested young Bulgarians to the Chinese wisdom, philosophy and modern culture.  

The President of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva and the parliamentary delegation headed by her had talks with the Bulgarian community in Beijing.

Earlier that day the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Lilyana Pavlova and the Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development signed a memorandum between the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

Included in the delegation, which is on an official visit to China, are the Deputy Presidents of the National Assembly Yanaki Stoilov, Krasimir Karakachanov and Yavor Notev, the Co-chairman of the Friendship Group Bulgaria – China Dimitar Boychev, the members of the Friendship Group Bulgaria – China Dzeyhan Ibryamov, Borislav Milanov and Rosen Petrov, the Chairman of the Defence Committee Miho Mihov, the Deputy Chairperson of the Culture and Media Committee  Irena Sokolova and the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Lilyana Pavlova.