“Bulgaria’s first EU Presidency coincides with EU’s 55th diplomatic ties anniversary with the Republic of Korea”: Andonov
It is very significant that Bulgaria assumed its first EU Presidency
since its joining to EU in 2007 in a time when EU greets its
55th diplomatic ties anniversary with the Republic of Korea.
Such remarks were proudly spoken by Bulgaria Amb. Petar
Andonov in a diplomatic reception to mark such Bulgaria’s EU Presidency as well as Bulgaria’s National Day, held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul on March
5th evening while many EU envoys were attending including
Romania Amb. Mihai Ciompec with his spouse, Spain Amb.
Gonzalo Ortiz with his spouse, Greece Amb. Ifigeneia
Kontoleontos, Ukraine Amb. Olexander Horin with his spouse,
Italy Amb. Marco Dellaseta etc.
In conjunction with such Bulgaria’s EU Presidency, Andonov
attached special importance,
saying: “In March 2018, Republic of Bulgaria is marking the
140th anniversary of our liberation holding the EU Presidency
of the Council of the EU until June 30th for a first time since
our accession to the EU in 2007. It also coincides with the
55th anniversary of establishment of the diplomatic relations
between the EU and the Republic of Korea. The Council of the
EU plays the role of the voice of EU member-states’ governments in negotiating and adopting EU laws,
together with the European Parliament, and in
coordinating the EU policies.“
In his welcoming remarks, Andonov described four major
priorities as follows: “As a member-state currently holding the Presidency of the Council of the
EU we are working on four main priorities. *For the future
of Europe and its young people through economic growth
and social cohesion. *For security and stability in a strong
and united Europe focusing on security policy and migration.
*For delivering a tangible European perspective for all the
countries from the Western Balkans and for their connectivity
with the EU member-states in terms of transport, energy,
education and digital
connectivity. And last but not least *For digital economy and
skills needed for the future in terms of development of the
Digital Single Market, access to innovation and link between
education and requirements of the labor market.
In terms of political dialogue between the two counterparts,
Bulgaria Amb. said: “We maintain a very active political dialogue
between Sofia and Seoul under the new administration of H.E. Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea. In August 2017 a
parliamentary delegation led by the President of the
National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria paid an
official visit to the Republic of Korea. In October 2017, H.E.Lee Nak-yeon, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea made an
official visit to Republic of Bulgaria. It was his first overseas
visit in his new capacity as a Prime Minister. The talks between
the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria H.E.Boyko
Borisov and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea
H.E.Lee Nak-yeon opened a new chapter in our bilateral relations of
comprehensive and future-oriented partnership. We are
working on Prime Minister Borisov’s visit to the Republic of Korea in the near future and we
believe that such a visit will be linked to the launch of new
investment projects of Korean companies in Bulgaria.”
So because Bulgarian and Korean companies have competitive
edges in hardware and software of ICT respectively, they
could conduct joint R&D activities and business development
in the field of big data, cloud solutions, semantics technologies,
mobile payments, bank software, business intelligence,
shared services centers, e-health, mobile versions of enterprise
applications, mobile security etc., said Andonov.
In May 2015, Sofia Tech Park as a first innovation ecosystem
in Southeastern Europe signed a Memorandum of
understanding with Samsung Electronics. Bulgaria is currently
holding second place in Europe, after Germany, in absolute
terms of number of IT start-ups.