By Kim Young Shin

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon visited Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov at his offices in Sofia on Oct 25. They discussed ways to boost cooperation between the two countries to promote joint business ventures, to counter North Korean nuclear weapons threats and to cooperate on international events, such as the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games next year.

The two partners agreed to further improve the “future-oriented partnership” between Seoul and Sofia by expanding cooperation on businesses like energy, infrastructure, information & communications, online government services, agriculture and the defense industry.

The Bulgarian prime minister was especially interested in generating job by attracting investment in manufacturing, such as the automobile industry. The two leaders agreed to launch a joint economic committee and a joint industrial cooperation committee in the first half of 2018.

Prime Minister Lee stressed that, “The PyeongChang Winter Games will be an important opportunity for Seoul and Sofia to strengthen ties in sports and tourism.”

“I look forward to the great performance of the Bulgarian athletes,” said the Bulgarian prime minister.

Prime Minister Lee thanked the Bulgarian government for supporting the new Korean administration’s policies on North Korea. “I hope that Bulgaria, as chair of the E.U. in the first half of 2018, will lead the E.U. to play a productive role in dealing with North Korea’s nuclear weapons issues,” said Lee.

“Bulgaria, together with the E.U., stands against North Korea’s nuclear provocations, and supports the South Korean government’s stance to solve the matter peacefully,” said Prime Minister Borissov.

ysk1111@korea.kr