President of Portugal Aníbal Cavaco Silva was on a visit to Bulgaria as a continuance of a bilateral political exchange, described as excellent by both Sofia and Lisbon. This has been the third Portuguese president to visit this country over the recent years. At the same time Portugal has been visited by three Bulgarian presidents. The governments and parliaments also have their regular exchange, but despite these facts, both states point out that their economic relations are too far from their real potential.

They do have their reasons – the turnover between Bulgaria and Portugal in 2014 was barely EUR 158.1 million – not only modest, but also by 18.8 percent lower on the previous year. According to data of the Central Bank the volume of investments, attracted from Portugal to Bulgaria in the period 1996 – 2014 was to the tune of EUR 26 million. That was why the presidents agreed in Sofia that the increase of the economic turnover should be the aspect to focus on, in the context of bilateral cooperation from now on, as well as on spheres with high added value, such as innovations, scientific research, the implementation of digital services, the increase of the volume of investments in the education sphere and the practical training of young people in accordance with the necessities of business.

Considering the new direction of economic relations and awareness of the need of institutional support and encouragement of contacts of companies on both sides, the agenda of President Silva’s visit envisaged the establishment of a Joint Bulgarian – Portugal Chamber of Commerce, as well as the signing of a memorandum between the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency and the Investment Agency on the one hand, and AICEP Portugal Global - Trade & Investment Agency on the other. It was all done with the understanding that the implementation of the new direction in the economic relations needed its institutional support.

Bulgaria and Portugal have their mutual interests not only on the bilateral plane, but also within the framework of the EU. President Plevneliev assured his guest in Bulgaria’s interest towards the Portuguese experience in the absorption of the European structural funds. The head of state had his good reasons to remind that in the years after its EU accession Portugal was called the good student of Europe. The state managed to implement its large-scale policy for modernization and construction of modern transport infrastructure via the absorption of its structural funds. The building of a unified Energy Union and the connections between the national gas and electricity systems are also essential for both Bulgaria and Portugal. The coinciding interests within the EU frames are also a serious prerequisite for the development of multilateral cooperation, especially during the forthcoming Bulgarian rotational EU presidency in 2018. Bulgaria has set the goal to enter Schengen, the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the European Energy Union by this time. The Sofia-held talks prompted that this country expected the Portuguese support as well. Thus the visit of President Aníbal Cavaco Silva to Sofia in fact framed the strengthening of both the economic and political cooperation between both countries.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev