Next year Russian President will visit Bulgaria

In the course of his negotiations with Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov Russian President Vladimir Putin reported that next year he would visit Bulgaria.

The head of the Russian state thanked his Bulgarian counterpart for the invitation and stated that he would visit Bulgaria in 2003 when the 125th anniversary of liberation of the country from the Osman yoke would be celebrated.

Vladimir Putin also indicated that the President of Bulgaria held fruitful negotiations in Moscow. "It is good that you are satisfied with the results of the work", Putin said and added that they considered such issues as economic and investment cooperation, cooperation in law enforcement sphere and also strengthening of the legal base of Russian-Bulgarian interaction.

The Russian President also stressed that since election of Parvanov to the post of the President of Bulgaria a significant change for the better took place in relations between the two countries. According to Putin, "a new atmosphere of interaction was created and cooperation in all areas was being established." In his turn Georgy Parvanov was hopeful that his present visit to Russia would establish a solid basis for further meetings and negotiations. He stated that "they were prepared to raise any questions which some time ago they were trying to avoid or to hush up." Parvanov also pointed out that his meetings with the Russian leadership were held in the atmosphere of confidence and he enjoyed "mutual understanding and readiness to help to resolve a number of issues."