Hanoi, August 19, 2025 – The Europe Today: Vietnam remains committed to strengthening and expanding its traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Bulgaria, particularly through Party-to-Party channels, Ambassador Nguyễn Thị Minh Nguyệt affirmed during a recent meeting with Atanas Zafirov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
Zafirov highlighted the long-standing ties between the BSP, formerly the Bulgarian Communist Party, and the Communist Party of Vietnam. He expressed his determination to deepen Party-to-Party cooperation, promote high-level political dialogue, and exchange experiences in theory and policymaking. He also emphasized boosting youth cooperation, cultural exchanges, and people-to-people diplomacy to further consolidate political trust between the two nations.
The BSP leader commended bilateral collaboration through the intergovernmental committee mechanism and proposed expanding cooperation into the fields of economy, trade, investment, energy, science and technology, tourism, and labor. He further encouraged leveraging the Vietnam–EU and Vietnam–ASEAN cooperation frameworks and welcomed Vietnam’s recent visa exemption policy for Bulgarian citizens.
Earlier, Ambassador Nguyệt met with several Bulgarian ministers, including Minister of Environment and Water Manol Genov, Minister of Youth and Sports Ivan Peshev, and Minister of Labour and Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov. She reiterated Vietnam’s commitment to advancing cooperation across all areas.
On environmental issues, Nguyệt proposed establishing an official cooperation mechanism between the two countries’ ministries, involving delegation exchanges, knowledge sharing, and technology transfer in wastewater treatment, waste management, pollution control, renewable energy development, biodiversity conservation, and resource management. She also called on Bulgaria to advocate for EU support for Vietnam in developing a circular economy, green economy, and marine and forest conservation.
In the field of sports, Nguyệt suggested cooperation in training, coaching, sports science research, and stronger collaboration between the two national Olympic committees. She also proposed creating opportunities for Vietnamese athletes to train in Bulgaria, while encouraging annual expert exchanges to improve Vietnam’s sporting performance.
Minister Genov underscored the importance of establishing a formal cooperation framework between the two sides, expressing Bulgaria’s readiness to share expertise in areas such as energy security, biodiversity, atmospheric science, disaster prevention, and forest fire control. He also voiced Bulgaria’s interest in learning from Vietnam’s experience in marine and ocean economy development, affirming Sofia’s support for Hà Nội within the EU framework.
Meanwhile, Minister Peshev proposed delegation exchanges at all levels and pledged training assistance for Vietnamese coaches and athletes in Bulgaria’s areas of strength.
