Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at talks with Speaker of the National Assembly of Bulgaria Tsveta Karayancheva, Moscow, June 25, 2019

Madam Speaker,

Colleagues,

We are delighted to have this opportunity to continue the series of intensive contacts between our countries that have been steadily advancing after last year’s visits to Russia made by Prime Minister of Bulgaria Boyko Borissov and President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev.

This year a conversation between our presidents took place on the sidelines of the St Petersburgh International Economic Forum. Today we are seeing the development of parliamentary diplomacy. We hope to resume close cooperation between our foreign ministries. We are looking forward to the visit of Bulgarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva. We have invited her.

Due to the realities of present day international politics, our opinions when it comes to various events are far from always being the same. However, I am convinced that this should not get in the way of our contacts and of our cooperation that rests on deep historical and spiritual roots.

We see how our Bulgarian friends cherish the memory of our common historical victories. Last year, we marked the 140^th anniversary of Bulgaria’s liberation from the Ottoman yoke and this year we are celebrating the 140^th anniversary of our diplomatic relations.

Of course, we were together during WWII. There are monuments to our fraternal military cooperation in Bulgaria. We know how deeply the Bulgarian people revere the memory of these pages of our common history.

There are many promising spheres of cooperation based on this historical foundation and we intend to promote them with our Bulgarian friends, primarily in the field of the hydrocarbon and nuclear power industries. I hope that the National Assembly of Bulgaria will support the agreements to be reached by our governments.

Welcome!