Presidents of Bulgaria, Montenegro call for strengthening economic ties

SOFIA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian President Rumen Radev and his visiting Montenegrin counterpart Filip Vujanovic here on Monday called for strengthening economic ties between their countries.

He and Vujanovic were not satisfied with the levels of bilateral trade and tourism exchange, Radev said at a joint press conference."They can be much larger," he said,"That is why we will work for the greater transport, energy, digital connectivity of the region." It was extremely important for citizens to travel more comfortably and more often, Radev said.

Thanks to this, all contacts concerning investment, business, education and culture would also be strengthened, Radev noted.

For his part, Vujanovic said that the close relations between Bulgaria and Montenegro could serve as a good example for the region.

This proximity and relationships had to be transferred to the economic sphere, Vujanovic said.

According to the Bulgarian Ministry of Economy, the bilateral trade amounted to only 15.9 million euros (19.3 million U.S. dollars) in 2016, and to 12.5 million euros in the first nine months of 2017. (1 euro = 1.23 U.S. dollars) Enditem