President Rumen Radev expects a Chinese bank branch to open in Bulgaria and launch a direct Beijing-Sofia airline to boost business relations between the two countries.

Speaking at an event featuring major Chinese products and services and Bulgarian-Chinese business meetings at the NDK convention center in Sofia on Thursday, Radev noted that this year the two countries mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

"We must not forget that Bulgaria is the second country in the world to recognize the People's Republic of China. I even joke that the first country to recognize it [the Soviet Union] officially ceased to exist, leaving Bulgaria practically. This anniversary is a opportunity to see our relations and I believe that today's meetings will deepen and expand this cooperation", said Radev.

The President hopes that the meetings at the fair will bring practical results in Bulgaria-China relations.

He recalled that during his official visit to Beijing in 2019, he signed a declaration with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the establishment of a strategic partnership between Bulgaria and China.

"After this statement, I still expect some things to happen. Firstly, to have a branch of a Chinese bank in Bulgaria to strengthen business relations and secondly, to have a direct air service between Beijing and Sofia so that business. and tourism will grow."

"In recent years, China has established itself as a very important partner of Bulgaria, and this country has great respect for China," said Radev. He recalled that in June, a Chinese investor established an industrial presence with a factory in Plovdiv for aluminum components for electric vehicles.

"I hope this is the first step, but not the last, and we have yet to have mutually beneficial cooperation. This trade fair is proof of China's great success, especially in the production of electric vehicles. Bulgaria has also had a success of huge in recent years and the automotive sector is one of its fastest growing industries, with over 350 companies and 11% of GDP," said Radev. According to him, there is no car manufactured in Europe that not have a component from Bulgaria.

Apart from the automotive sector, Bulgaria and China can cooperate in more sectors.

Radev presented the conditions for doing business in Bulgaria and called on Chinese companies to take advantage of them.

"I believe that today through dialogue more new opportunities will emerge. I want to share Bulgaria's expectations for even more balanced trade. This country can do much more to facilitate all procedures for balanced trade, which currently it is 4 billion dollars and if we continue like this, it will become 10 billion dollars in the foreseeable future".