Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev met in Sofia Wednesday with Chinese State Councilor Hua Jianmin and they pledged to strengthen bilateral ties.

At the talks, Hua said that in recent years, the mutual political trust between China and Bulgaria has been increasingly deepened and the bilateral cooperation has yielded remarkable fruits.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to developing Sino-Bulgarian relations and will continue to consolidate the Sino-Bulgarian friendship, deepen the mutual understanding and promote bilateral cooperation to push forward the development of bilateral ties, he said.

The Chinese side is willing to work together with Bulgaria, one of the countries which established diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China at the earliest, to further consolidate the political relations between the two countries while boosting economic and trade ties, Hua noted.

He said the Chinese government encourages Chinese enterprises to invest in Bulgaria and Bulgarian companies are also welcome to start business in China.

Stanishev also spoke highly of bilateral ties, saying his government is willing to make efforts to deepen the friendly cooperation of mutual benefit between China and Bulgaria and push forward the ties to develop in an all-round and healthy way.

He said that Bulgaria, which entered the European Union in 2007,will continue to exert its influence in the body to promote steady development of the EU-China relations.

Stanishev reiterated that the Bulgarian government adheres to the one-China policy and opposes the "Taiwan Independence" and the "UN membership referendum."

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2008)