In the afternoon of December 16, 2013, Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, held talks with National Assembly Speaker Mihail Mikov of Bulgaria at the Great Hall of the People.

Zhang Dejiang said, for the past 60 plus years since the establishment of China-Bulgaria diplomatic relationship, the bilateral relations have enjoyed smooth development and have been unceasingly deepened. China-Bulgaria relationship enjoys a solid political foundation with frequent high-level exchanges. China appreciates that Bulgaria has long adhered to the One China policy and firmly supported China on issues concerning China’s core interests and major concerns. Bilateral exchanges have been further expanded. Economic and trade cooperation has seen steady progress. The trade volume between China and Bulgaria increased by nearly 30% last year. Bilateral cooperation on culture, education and scien-tech are getting increasingly close. China and Bulgaria are trustworthy good friends and good partners for each other. The next year will mark the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationship between the two countries. China is willing to work with Bulgaria to strengthen friendly exchanges, to carry forward the traditional friendship and to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation so as to push forward China-Bulgaria relations to another new high.

Zhang Dejiang said, the China-CEEC Summit was successfully held recently in Bucharest. During the Summit, all participant countries issued the Bucharest Action Guideline on China-CEEC Cooperation, working together to plan for the grand blueprint for cooperation. It sent out the strong message of strengthening China-Europe comprehensive strategic partnership. China-CEEC cooperation is a brand new cause. It requires that we work together to explore ways of cooperation and to enrich the contents of cooperation. China is ready to work closely with Bulgaria, to jointly promote cooperation and to implement as soon as possible the outcomes of the Summit so as to better benefit the people of China and of CEE countries.

Zhang Dejiang said that China and Bulgaria have long remained friendly exchanges between the legislative bodies, with a sound foundation for cooperation. The NPC of China attaches importance to developing relations with the Bulgarian National Assembly and hopes that both sides will strengthen exchanges and learn more from each other focusing on sharing experience on legislation and state governance, will try to create favourable legal circumstances for the two countries expanding mutually beneficial cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, scien-tech and tourism with promoting practical cooperation as the core, will promote local and non-governmental friendly exchanges between the two countries with the Parliamentary Friendship Group as a platform, so as to strengthen popular support for China-Bulgaria friendship and to push for unceasing development of China-Bulgaria relations on the parliamentary level.

Mikov said that Bulgaria is the second country in the world to recognize the People’s Republic of China while establishing the diplomatic relationship. The two countries enjoy traditional friendship and have always offered political support for each other. The National Assembly of Bulgaria highly values its relations with China, willing to share more experience on state governance with the NPC of China and to work together for greater development of bilateral practical cooperation in the fields of investment, economy and trade, scien-tech and culture.