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Two Vietnamese provinces seek business partners in Bulgaria at a Sofia forum

2 min read

Business forum hall with round tables and an empty speaker's podium in warm light Foreign Investment
Business forum hall with round tables and an empty speaker's podium in warm light

Delegations from Thanh Hoa and Tay Ninh presented investment opportunities, while the Bulgarian chamber said 20 companies with Vietnamese participation are already registered in Bulgaria.

Business delegations from the Vietnamese provinces of Thanh Hoa and Tay Ninh presented their economies to Bulgarian companies at a forum hosted by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), BTA reported on 22 October. The visitors represented companies in real estate, infrastructure, industrial parks, agriculture, tourism, textiles and garments, manufacturing and other sectors.

Opening the forum, BCCI President Tsvetan Simeonov said Vietnam's pace of development gave Bulgaria another reason to seek partners more actively, noting that Vietnam has a free trade agreement with the European Union. He said the chamber's register lists 20 companies with Vietnamese participation and 45 representative offices of Vietnamese companies in Bulgaria, and urged Bulgarian businesses to be more active in the relationship.

Vietnam's ambassador to Bulgaria, Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet, said her country wanted to facilitate access for Bulgarian goods, services and technologies to the Vietnamese market. She described Tay Ninh, in the south, as a link between the south-east and the Mekong Delta with opportunities for trade with Cambodia and a developed network of industrial zones. Thanh Hoa, in the north, lies on a major north-south transport corridor and is home to the Nghi Son Economic Zone, which has a deep-water seaport.

Mai Xuan Liem, standing vice chair of Thanh Hoa's People's Committee, said the province's priorities for 2026 to 2030 include processing and manufacturing, high value-added agriculture, science and innovation, energy, environmental protection and logistics. He described Bulgaria as a bridge between local products and the European market and named education as another area for cooperation.

Huynh Van Son, vice chair of Tay Ninh's People's Committee, proposed cooperation in IT, digital transformation, high-tech industry, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, logistics, e-commerce and tourism. Tay Ninh plans to develop 133 industrial zones and 108 industrial clusters under its plan to 2030, against 35 zones and 24 clusters today. Industry makes up 52% of the province's economy, and it has nearly 2,000 registered FDI projects from 40 countries with total capital above USD 27 billion.

For Bulgarian exporters and investors, the forum points to two-way opportunities under the EU-Vietnam trade agreement.

Sources