TEHRAN- Bulgarian Minister of Economy Emil Karanikolov said his country and Europe are seriously determined to continue their economic cooperation with Iran.

The European official made the remarks in an Iran-Bulgaria business forum held at the place of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) in Tehran on Monday, ICCIMA portal reported.

The minister, whose country holds the presidency of the European Union Council, said Bulgarian government as well as businessmen and traders are keen on cooperation with Iran and holding such forums can be a good opportunity to expand bilateral cooperation.

He further underlined that the value of trade between Iran and Bulgaria has increased 14 percent to $117.4 million in 2017 from 2016.

ICCIMA Chairman Gholam-Hossein Shafe’i, for his part, referred to the nineteenth meeting of Iran-Bulgaria Joint Economic Committee which is scheduled to be held this year and said some memorandums of understandings are planned to be signed between the two sides chambers of commerce in that meeting. 

He further highlighted Iran’s rich resources of energy as well as its high potential in transportation, ports, agriculture, banking and tourism and Bulgaria’s vast capabilities in the fields of chemical materials and medicine as well as machinery and commented that all these potentials and capabilities provide good opportunities for cooperation between the two countries.

MA