site.btaPresident Radev Urges Closer Economic Ties with China

President Rumen Radev said that friendly relations and trust between Bulgaria and China support deeper economic partnership, speaking at a meeting with China's Vice Minister of Commerce Ling Ji and a Chinese business delegation at the President’s administration on Monday. The delegation is in Bulgaria ahead of the eighteenth session of the Bulgarian-Chinese Intergovernmental Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation.

China's Ambassador to Bulgaria Dai Qingli, General Director of the Department of European Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Yu Yuantang, Deputy Director General of the Department for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Wang Qi, and Director of the Department of Foreign Trade Li Hongyan also attended the meeting.

Radev described China as a highly significant economic partner for Bulgaria and noted the upward trend in bilateral economic relations in recent years. He cited his 2019 official visit to China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping as a key event that raised Bulgarian-Chinese relations to a level of strategic partnership, pointing out that this partnership could be given real substance through greater cooperation in high technology, artificial intelligence, and high value-added investment.

Addressing the Chinese business representatives, Radev outlined Bulgaria’s advantages for attracting foreign investment, including its strategic geographic location, low operating costs, favourable tax policies, and dynamic technological development in artificial intelligence, IT, and the automotive sector.

“The opportunities are enormous. Our companies are flexible and can offer reliable partnership within tight deadlines, and Bulgaria is shortest route to Europe, providing all the advantages for manufacturing and as a logistics centre in the EU,” Radev said. He also stressed the development of cross-border transport infrastructure passing through Bulgaria as ensuring high returns for investors in this sector. He observed a significant rise in goods traffic across the Bulgaria-Turkiye border, which became the world’s busiest in 2024. It was agreed that developing the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor, where Bulgaria is actively collaborating with Central Asian countries, is crucial for improving connectivity between China and Europe.

Ling Ji thanked Radev for the opportunity to hold the meeting and said that strengthening business ties between the two countries would naturally bring the peoples closer together. “Our strategic cooperation will go as far as our economic partnership deepens,” Ling Ji said.

Earlier on Monday, a Bulgaria-China Business Forum was held at the Intercontinental Sofia Hotel, organized by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the assistance of the Ministry of Economy and Industry and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China.