Ambassador Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet meets Bulgarian Tourism Minister Ilin Dimitrov to promote sustainable tourism cooperation
WVR - On July 8, in Sofia, Vietnamese Ambassador to Bulgaria Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet held a working session with Bulgarian Minister of Tourism Ilin Dimitrov to discuss measures to promote tourism cooperation between the two countries in the new phase.
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| Bulgarian Minister of Tourism Ilin Dimitrov and Vietnamese Ambassador to Bulgaria Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet. (Source: Vietnamese Embassy in Bulgaria) |
During the meeting, both sides assessed tourism as a field with great potential for cooperation, not only contributing to economic development but also enhancing people-to-people exchanges, mutual understanding, and driving expanded cooperation in trade, investment, education, and culture.
Both parties shared the view that Vietnam and Bulgaria have a need to diversify tourist markets, develop new tourism products, and strengthen connections between travel businesses.
Ambassador Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet proposed that both sides soon study and develop a Tourism Cooperation Program for 2027-2030 between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam and the Ministry of Tourism of Bulgaria, creating a framework for regular tourism promotion activities, market information sharing, human resource training, and business connectivity.
The Ambassador also suggested enhancing the organization of survey delegations, business-to-business (B2B) connection workshops, building a database of tourism businesses from both countries, promoting the potential and tourism products of each country, and coordinating to facilitate visa procedures for organized tourist groups.
Bulgarian Minister of Tourism Ilin Dimitrov appreciated the proposals from the Vietnamese side and agreed on the necessity of establishing a new cooperation framework that meets current development requirements. The Minister affirmed that both sides could soon initiate the process of drafting a new Cooperation Program to replace the previously signed document.
Regarding cooperation directions, the Minister suggested prioritizing the enhancement of connections between the two countries' tourism businesses through market survey programs and B2B workshops held in Bulgaria and Vietnam. According to the Minister, forming a network of cooperation among businesses will help accurately assess market needs, thereby laying the groundwork for exploring the possibility of opening direct flights between the two countries in the future.
Both sides agreed to consider training cooperation as a crucial pillar of bilateral tourism relations.
The Bulgarian Minister of Tourism stressed that the country has a system of universities with extensive experience in tourism training and hopes to establish cooperative relations with Vietnamese training institutions.
For her part, Ambassador Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet emphasised that Bulgaria has trained many generations of Vietnamese students, including numerous officials trained in economics, tourism, and services, providing a favourable foundation for the two countries to restore and expand training cooperation in the new phase.
Additionally, both sides agreed to explore leveraging European Union (EU) cooperation programs, particularly Erasmus , to promote the exchange of lecturers, students, scientific research, and the development of high-quality human resources in tourism.
The Bulgarian Minister of Tourism also affirmed coordination with relevant agencies to facilitate visa issuance for Vietnamese tourists.
The working session took place in an open and constructive atmosphere, achieving many common understandings on cooperation directions in the coming time. The agreement to promote business connectivity, enhance training cooperation, intensify promotional activities, and build a new cooperation framework is expected to create new momentum for tourism cooperation, contributing to deepening the traditional friendship and partnership between Vietnam and Bulgaria.
(Source: Vietnamese Embassy in Bulgaria)
