Recent Visits by Indian side to Bulgaria:

 Visit of a delegation from the Department of Science & Technology (May 13-16, 2009)

A five member delegation led by Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology (DST) of India paid a visit to Bulgaria from 13-16 May, 2009 for the VI Session of the India-Bulgaria Joint Committee on Science & Technology. The Programme for Cooperation (POC) in the field of Science & Technology for the period 2008-10 was signed by Dr. T. Ramasami from the Indian side and H.E Dr. Vanya Dobreva, Deputy Minister of Education & Science of the Republic of Bulgaria on behalf of the Bulgarian side. During the Session, the two sides approved 13 new joint projects in various areas of science and technology to be jointly pursued by distinguished scientists from both the countries. The Indian side also offered ten Ph.D scholarships for interested Bulgarian research scholars. Discussions pertained to review of the achievements made since the last session in November 2007 and possibilities for cooperation in new areas. During the visit, the Indian side visited the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences as well as various other premier institutes/organizations connected with research and development in the fields of Science & Technology in Bulgaria.

 Visit of a delegation from the Ministry of Defence (May 7-8, 2009)

A three member delegation from the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of India led by Shri R.K.Mathur, Additional Secretary, paid a visit to Bulgaria from 6-9 May, 2009 for the XIV Session of India-Bulgaria Joint Committee on Defence Cooperation. A Protocol for the XIV Session was signed by Shri R.K.Mathur from the Indian side and H.E Mr. Yavor Kuiumdjiev, Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy of the Republic of Bulgaria on behalf of the Bulgarian side. The Indian delegation also met with H.E Mr. Spas Penchev, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria. The discussions during the various meetings pertained to the review of the implementation of the Protocol of the XIII Session as well as on the possibilities for defence cooperation in various fields.

 Visit of Secretary (West) to Bulgaria (July 20-22, 2008)

Shri Nalin Surie, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs paid an official visit to Sofia as Special Envoy of Prime Minister and as leader of Indian delegation for the Foreign Office Consultations. He met with the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ivailo Kalfin on July 21. He also led the Indian side for Foreign Office Consultations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, which was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Radion Popov from the Bulgarian side and held on July 21. Both sides reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral as well as multilateral cooperation in various spheres.

 Visit of Lok Sabha Speaker to Bulgaria (June 16-20, 2008)

A 13-member Indian Parliamentary Delegation led by Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha, Shri Somnath Chatterjee visited Bulgaria from June 16-20, 2008. The delegation comprised of four MPs from Lok Sabha, two MPs from Rajya Sabha, Secretary-General of Lok Sabha and other officials of Lok Sabha nd Rajya Sabha. Hon’ble Speaker called on the President of Bulgaria H.E Mr. Georgi Purvanov, Deputy Prime Minister nad Minister of Emergency Situations H.E Mrs. Emel Etem (who was the acting Prime Minister in the absence of PM Sergei Stanishev) and met with the Chairman of National Assembly of Bulgaria H.E. Mr. Georgi Pirinski. He also visited the Indira Gandhi School in Sofia and addressed the ‘Friends of India Club’ and the Indology Depratment of Sofia University. The delegation also paid a visit to the historic city of Veliko-Turnovo. The visit further cemented the traditional friendly and warm ties between India and Bulgaria.

 Visit of Indian Parliamentary delegation to attend IPAIT VI (June 8-11, 2008)

A three-member Parliamentary delegation led by Shri S.S. Ahluwalia, M.P (RS) and including Shri K.V.Thangkabalu, M.P (LS) visited Sofia from June 8-12, 2008 to attend the Sixth General Assembly of International Parliamentarians’ Association for IT (IPAIT VI) held at the National Assembly of Bulgaria in Sofia. India was elected as the next host of the IPAIT VII to be held in 2009 and Shri S.S.Ahluwalia was elected as the Vice-President of the IPAIT.

 Visit of a Delegation from Ministry of Home Affairs , India ( September 26-30, 2006)

A six member delegation of Ministry of Home Affairs headed by Special Secretary for Internal Security G.S.Rajagopal paid an official visit to Bulgaria during September 26-30. The visit was in relation to the implementation of the Agreement between the Governments of India and Bulgaria for cooperation in the fight against organized crime, international terrorism and illegal trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, signed on May 26, 1994. The delegation called on the Interior Minister Roumen Petkov, Deputy Minister of Interior Boyko Kotsev and Deputy Minister of Justice Margarit Ganev. The delegation also had a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Feim Chaushev, who also hosted a lunch in honour of the delegation. The delegation had working-level meetings with various organizations under the Ministry of Interior viz. Chief Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, National Police Service, Border Police Chief Directorate, National Security Service and with the Migration Directorate. Both sided signed the Agreed Minutes on September 29 which was followed by a short press Conference.

 Indian Parliamentary delegation for the Second World Conference of Women Parliamentarians(June 19-20, 2006)

160 Representatives of more than 59 countries took part in the Second World Conference of Women Parliamentarians on June 19-20 at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. The Second World Meeting of Women Parliamentarians was devoted to the mental and physical development of children. Bulgarian National Assembly hosted the Conference. National Assembly Chairman Georgi Pirinski inaugurated the Conference. Two MPs from India, Ms Kiran Maheshwari from Rajya Sabha and Ms Pramila Bahidar from Lok Sabha represented India. The next world conference will be held in Jordan. The forum decided to continue cooperation in improving the quality of young people’s life, guarantee their health and education and provide opportunities for achievement of fair social status. For the purpose of preventing the consequences military conflicts have for children and young people, the women parliamentarians submitted to the UN a proposal to treat residential areas as protected ones where human life is inviolable. The resolution envisages the development of a common preventive line through the application of efficient legislation in the individual countries for the purpose of curbing the spreading of drugs among children and young people, combating the traffic in women and children and protecting children who come from risk groups. Women parliamentarians supported the adoption of legislation for the protection of children against sexual abuse and the elimination of trade in child pornography. The next world conference will be held in Jordan.

 Visit of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of India (June 15-17,2006)

At the invitation of H.E. Mr. Ivailo Kalfin, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, Hon’ble Shri Anand Sharma, MoS(AS) visited Bulgaria from June 15-17. During the visit the MoS(EA) met with Speaker of National Assembly Mr. Georgi Pirinski, PM Sergei Stanishev, Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ivailo Kalfin, Minister of Economy and Energy, Mr. Rumen Ovcharov. There were delegation-level talks at the Foreign Office. Mr. Kalfin also hosted a luncheon in honour of the visiting dignitary. A Joint Press Conference took place which was addressed by Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Ivailo Kalfin and MoS(EA) Shri Anand Sharma. Ambassador organised a dinner in honour of MoS(EA) on June 16. The visit was widely covered by local English and Bulgarian Media.

 Visit of Minister of ICT of India (February 7-11, 2004)

Former Minister of Information Technology, Communications and Investment, Shri Arun Shourie led a delegation to Bulgaria from February 7-11, 2004. He was accompanied among others by six scientists from diverse fields of S&T such as Space, Metallurgy, Nano-Sciences and Physics. The visit was a follow-up of the recent President’s visit to Bulgaria in October 2003. Shri Shourie called on President, PM and later met Minister of Transport and Communications Minister of State Administration, Minister for Education and Science and the Deputy Economy Minister. Both sides discussed about bilateral cooperation in the area of Information Technology, and Science & Technology. The delegation of scientists discussed with their counterparts the ways of promoting scientific cooperation between the two countries. It was agreed that in the near future, Bulgarian scientists as well as IT experts will visit India and carry forward the progress in the identified areas of IT, Nano-Materials, High Energy Physics, Satellite Technology.

 Visit of President of India Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam to Bulgaria (Oct 22-24, 2003)

There was an official visit of our Hon’ble President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to Bulgaria from October 22-24. He was accompanied among others by Hon’ble Minister of Disinvestment, Communications and Information Technology Shri Arun Shourie, two MPs Shri Suresh Prabhu and Smt. Sarla Maheshwari, Secretary EAA Shri Shashank as well as other members of the official delegation. During the visit, both sides signed a treaty on Extradition, an Agreement in the field of Youth and Sports, MoU for cooperation between the Bulgarian association for the Information Technologies and the Committee for the Indian Council for promoting exports of Electronics and Software Products. Both Presidents discussed regional and global issues of mutual interest. During the course of the visit, a Joint Statement was agreed upon by both the sides. Bulgarian side supported India’s permanent membership of UNSC. On the J&K issue, Bulgaria supports solution to the settlement of the dispute with Pakistan bilaterally in the spirit of Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration. On the issue of terrorism, Bulgarian side agreed for a joint fight against terrorism including cross border terrorism and has broadly supported India’s draft convention on resolution 1373 on terrorism at the UN.

In the plenary session, both sides agreed that Science and Technology, IT, Agriculture, Sports can be the core areas for cooperation between Bulgaria and India that could be further developed in future. Joint research projects in scientific fields, commercialization of technology, joint ventures in identified areas like applied mathematics, software applications for access control and tracking in the areas of traffic and crime are some of the likely areas of collaboration between the two sides.