Bulgarian PM, Russian president discuss boosting economic ties over phone

Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the strengthening of bilateral economic ties in a telephone conversation on Friday, officials said.

During the conversation held at Bulgaria's initiative, the two leaders expressed satisfaction with the discussion and the outcome of the session of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation held in January in Sofia, the Government Information Service said in a statement.

Borissov and Putin stressed the need to intensify its work, "which would contribute to the increase of trade between the two countries," the statement said.

They also discussed the creation of working groups that would review joint energy projects, the statement said.

"The prime minister and the president also discussed the possibility of increasing the number of tourists, noting that tourism continues to play an important role in relations between the two countries," the Bulgarian cabinet said.

In 2015, Bulgaria received visits by nearly half a million Russian tourists, it said.

In 2014, Russia was Bulgaria's second largest trading partner with value reaching 6.04 billion U.S. dollars, or 9.3 percent of the total trade turnover of the Balkan country. Endit