Speech by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, at the Scientific Conference “Bulgaria-Russia. 135 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations: the past, the present and the future”, Sofia, 7 July 2014

Dear friends,

I am glad to participate in the conference dedicated to the 135 years that have passed since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries. I am convinced that your work will be successful and fruitful.

Russian-Bulgarian ties are based on deep mutual liking and friendship between our fraternal people, wide commonality of our spiritual and cultural heritage, memories of joint victories won in the fight for the freedom and independence of Bulgaria.

Today, based on many ages of traditions, we need to further extend our mutually beneficial, equal cooperation in different areas, find compromise outcomes in any, even the most complex, issues. Our intensive and effective negotiations with the President, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria were devoted to this.

We have managed to reach quite good results lately. Our trade and investment ties are developing quite dynamically. Although there was some decline in trade, we see ways to overcome this trend and possibilities for building-up our turnover of goods. In the past decade, Russian companies have invested almost 2 billion US dollars in Bulgaria. The most significant projects include the large-scale modernisation of the fuel and petrochemical refinery of the Russian KN Lukoil in Burgas, whose activities bring in almost a quarter of the tax income in the Bulgarian budget. Other successful examples are the creation of the unique Resort Complex of Kamchia, which was built on the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea with funds from the Government of Moscow and the development of the network of petrol stations of OAO Gazpromneft.

But, of course, the potential of fruitful partnership is far from being exhausted. Energy, primarily the South Stream gas pipe project, is the most prospective area of application of our efforts. Its implementation will contribute to the reinforcement of Bulgaria's energy security and economic development, and the growth of welfare of its nationals.

Our meeting is taking place against the background of many memorable dates relating to our people. In 2013, large-scale events devoted to 135 years of liberation of Bulgaria from the Osman yoke were held in Bulgaria. This April 135 years has passed since the adoption of the Tarnovo Constitution. Well-known Russian law-makers participated in its creation. This September we will celebrate the 90th anniversary since the day of consecration of the monument temple in honour of Saint Alexander Nevsky, which was built in memory of the warriors, who liberated Bulgaria from the Osman yoke. In December we have the 100th anniversary of the Temple, Russian Orthodox Church, in Sofia.

Cultural ties are developing fruitfully. The opening of the Thracian Gold from Bulgaria – Living Legends exhibition in the State Historical Museum of Moscow was an important event last year. Last November, there were Days of Sofia in Moscow, but in autumn we expect to have Days of Moscow in Sofia.

The interest of Russian nationals in Bulgaria is growing. In 2013 over 680,000 Russian tourists visited it, but over 300,000 Russians bought real estate in your hospitable country.

A constructive dialogue between non-governmental organisations is developing. Last year, the Russian-Bulgarian community forum started to function. There were meetings between its co-chairs (the member of the Council of the Federation, Vitaly Ignatenko, visited Sofia in March; the ex-President of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov, visited Moscow in April and October), an Agreement between Shipka and the Mozhaisk Municipal Region was signed within the ambit of twin-city ties, and there were several other significant events within the framework of the Forum.

We highly appreciate the activities of the Bulgaria-Russia Coordination Committee, which was created in your country and regularly holds large social and political campaigns on topical issues on the bilateral agenda. The initiative of the Council for the organisation of the collection of funds to repair the monument to the Soviet Army in Sofia, which is perceived by Russia and Bulgaria as a symbol of friendship between our people, on the eve of the 70 years of victory in the Second World War deserves respect and support. This campaign will certainly become a significant contribution to the substantial programme of events, devoted to the Great Victory, which are being prepared by the states and their communities, as well as within the framework of international organisations.

On this occasion, I would like to express my gratitude for the publication of my book "Between the Past and the Future. Russian Diplomacy in the Changing World" in Bulgarian. This is a collective work of our Ministry. Although I do not deny that I was its author, however, this work reflects a big job by the entire Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our efforts to promote our foreign policy doctrine, which was approved by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

Any Bulgarian, as well as any normal person on the globe, understands what is concentrated in this edition. It tells of the specific efforts, which we all need to undertake, to ensure the process of the establishment of a new fair and democratic polycentric world order, which is based on the principles of international law, the central role of the UN, respect for the identity of people, their right to determine their own destiny and to collective peaceful methods to settle disputes, without external interference and without the use of force. As the President Vladimir Putin emphasised at the meeting between Russian ambassadors and permanent representatives a week ago, in its foreign policy Russia consistently believes that we should search for a resolution to global and regional problems though the search for compromises rather than through confrontation. We would like to recall our Slavic, Orthodox slogan, which is always applicable to any situation "God is not in might but in right".

I think that I will express the opinion of my colleagues, who participated in the preparation of this edition, if I say a special thank you to the publisher of the book – Svetlana Sharenkova, who is the head of the Bulgaria-Russia Forum and publishes the only Russian-language newspaper in Bulgaria – "Russia dnes – Russia Today". In general, I view the publishing of this book in Bulgaria as a reflection of the interest of the Bulgarian community in modern Russian diplomacy, its efforts aimed at implementation of the goals which I have mentioned.

It would be proper to mention the dynamically developing Russian-Bulgarian interaction in the book publishing area today, which makes a weighty contribution to the reinforcement of the atmosphere of friendship and trust between our peoples. In the modern world, literature not only contributes to the preservation of language and cultural diversity, but also helps us to understand each other in a better way.

In 2013, the joint Russian-Bulgarian project of the All-Russia State Library of Foreign Literature named after Margarita Rudomino and the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, the New Bulgarian Novelm was started, thanks to which works by several modern authors of your country became available to the Russian reader in Russia after a 30 year break.

We appreciate that the majority of large Bulgarian book shops has sections selling fiction and scientific books in Russian.

We have large-scale tasks ahead of us today. I am convinced that through reciprocal efforts (not only Russian and Bulgarian, but of all the European countries), we will be able to successfully resolve them for the benefit of our peoples, in the interests of strengthening security, stability and welfare. We have all we need for this, primarily, the Russian-Bulgarian friendship, which is time-proven.

I am looking into this room and I see many familiar faces, old friends, prominent Bulgarian and European politicians, veterans and many young people as well. This is the ticket to our success. I see the eyes of the young and reach a simple conclusion: your eyes looking at me tell me that our friendship will be eternal.