Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid has engaged in fruitful discussions with more officials of the Bulgarian government.

The President-elect of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) held meetings with the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communication of Bulgaria Georgi Todorov and the Deputy Minister of Economy Kalina Konstantinova on Thursday.

In his meeting with Minister Todorov, FM Shahid noted that he remains confident that the cooperation in fields of information technology and communication will continue to strengthen between Maldives and Bulgaria over the coming years.

During the meeting held with Minister Todorov at the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications of Bulgaria, the pair engaged in discussions regarding the significance of enhancing information and communication networks, as well as transport networks in regard to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

FM Shahid went on to touch down on the importance of “strong” and “reliable” networks for information and communication in order to implement the decentralization policies of the administration of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Shedding light on the surging tourist arrivals from Bulgaria into the Maldives, the pair went on to discuss avenues through which transport links between both countries may be increased for a strengthened connection between the citizens of both countries.

Senior officials of the Bulgarian transport ministry accompanied the minister during the meeting.

Further, the meeting with Deputy Minister Konstantinova saw the pair interact on ways to further strengthen the economic cooperation and trade between Maldives and Bulgaria, with the UNGA President-elect having explored possibility of exporting fish products from the Maldives, to Bulgaria.

The pair held extensive discussions regarding the strengthening of economy and trade ties between both countries.

The Bulgarian deputy minister was accompanied by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria Zaritsa Dinkova and senior officials of the Ministry of Economy of Bulgaria.

High Commissioner of Maldives to the United Kingdom, Dr. Farahanaz Faizal and Third Secretary at the High Commission of Maldives to the United Kingdom, Mariyam Afnan accompany FM Shahid during these meetings.

The foreign minister also met with some other government officials of Bulgaria on Thursday, including his counterpart Svetlan Stoev, Deputy Minister Dinkova and Tourism Minister of Bulgaria, Dr. Stella Baltova.

FM Shahid departed on his three-day official visit to Bulgaria’s capital, Sofia on July 26. This is his second trip to a foreign country since being elected the president of UNGA’s 76th session. His first trip since then was to India from July 22 – 24, where he engaged in discussions with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

FM Shahid, set to take office in September, is the first UNGA President elected from the Maldives in the UN’s 75-year history and the 55 years since the Maldives became a member