Speaker of Parliament Tsveta Karayancheva and Chair of Azerbaijan-Bulgaria Friendship Group at the Milli Majlis Rauf Aliyev have discussed opportunities for developing cooperation between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. A delegation of Azerbaijan-Bulgaria Friendship Group at the Milli Majlis is visiting Bulgaria at the invitation of Chair of Bulgaria-Azerbaijan Friendship Group at the 44th National Assembly Hamid Hamid.

Speaker of Parliament Tsveta Karayancheva assured her guest that the traditionally good relations between the two countries would deepen and become more dynamic. She emphasised the importance of cooperation in culture, tourism, energy and other economic sectors. Tsveta Karayancheva recalled the results of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov’s visit to Baku and said that the first scheduled air service between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan would boost tourist exchange between the two countries.

Chair of Azerbaijan-Bulgaria Friendship Group at the Milli Majlis Rauf Aliyev said that Bulgaria was a friendly country and expressed his satisfaction that Bulgaria was currently holding the presidency of the Council of the EU. He emphasised that it was important that the two countries looked ahead and developed their relations in energy, transport, new technologies, culture and sports. The agreement achieved between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan will make it possible for Bulgaria to receive 1 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani natural gas per year as of 2020, said Rauf Aliyev.

Azerbaijani Ambassador Nagriz Gurbanova said that Bulgaria had always had a warm attitude to her country regardless of who was in power. She mentioned the importance of interaction between the two countries in the area of transport and said that cooperation was to the benefit of both nations.

Chair of Bulgaria-Azerbaijan Friendship Group at the National Assembly Hamid Hamid said that he and his counterpart Rauf Alieyev had decided to organise football and tennis tournaments between the two parliaments.

Bulgaria and Azerbaijan should continue to work towards expanding their relations in economy, sports, tourism and energy. This was the focus of discussion between MPs from Bulgaria-Azerbaijan Friendship Group and the delegation of the Azerbaijan-Bulgaria Friendship Group at the Milli Majlis. They also discussed parliamentary cooperation between the two countries and partnership in specific areas.

By way of example, Bulgarian MPs mentioned the direct flights between Baku and Sofia launched only a few days ago. They will help deepen the relations between the two countries in many areas, such as tourism, business, education and sports.