Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says that Ukraine is interested in deepening bilateral relations with Bulgaria and expects to consolidate efforts in this direction.
“The parties discussed issues of strengthening economic cooperation, military and technical cooperation, development of the transport and tourism industry,” the government’s press service said following a meeting between Shmyhal and Deputy Prime Minister for Judicial Reform, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva.
The prime minister said that in 2019 the trade turnover between the countries exceeded $1 billion, therefore, in order to overcome the negative consequences of the pandemic and restore the volume of bilateral trade, it is worth joining efforts.
Shmyhal said that one of the important instruments of bilateral cooperation in the economic sector is the Joint Ukrainian-Bulgarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation.
“Unfortunately, the last time the commission was held ten years ago, and we must restore its work. The regular meetings of the commission will further increase the volume of bilateral trade and investment cooperation between our states,” the prime minister said.
Shmyhal and Zaharieva agreed to hold the Ukrainian-Bulgarian business forum in Sofia in 2021, and a meeting of the Joint Ukrainian-Bulgarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation is to be held within the forum.
In addition, during the meeting, the parties discussed the prospects for the development of the transport and tourism industry, which have been affected by the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease.
Due to that, Shmyhal and Zaharieva agreed to create a joint intergovernmental working group on tourism development.
For his part, the prime minister noted the importance of launching an international checkpoint across the state border for ferry, passenger and freight traffic between the settlements of Orlivka (Ukraine) and Isaccea (Romania).
“This will help to increase the tourist flow and expand business contacts between our states and will improve direct road communication. It is also necessary to make efforts to sign an agreement, simplify the conditions for the carriage of goods in direct international railway ferry service port ‘Chornomorsk-Varna’ ferry complex,” he said.
