Today, 24 October 2025, bilateral agreements were signed in the Granite Hall of the Council of Ministers in the presence of H.E. Mr. Tô Lâm, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Mr. Rosen Zhelyazkov, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria. Among them: Letter of Intent between the Ministry of National Defence of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (MNDV) and the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria for the expansion of military cooperation; Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Ministry of Public Security of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for cooperation in the field of cybersecurity and combating high-tech and cybercrimes; Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Electronic Governance of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for digital cooperation etc. Mr. Georg Georgiev, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Valentin Mundrov, Minister of E-Governance; Mr. Daniel Mitov, Minister of Interior; Mr. Radostin Iliev, Deputy Minister of Defence; Mr. Phan Văn Giang, Politburo member and Minister of Defence of SRV; Mr. Lương Tam Quang, Minister of Public Security of SRV; Mr. Le Hoai Trung, acting Foreign Minister, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Minister of Science and Technology of SRV, etc. took part in the signing of the interstate agreements and documents.

At the ceremony, an annex to the Agreement on Scientific Cooperation between the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences for the period 2027-2029 was signed. Prof. Dr. Tran Hong Thai – Standing Vice President of VAST on Vietnamese side and Prof. Emmanuel Moutafov, Vice-President of BAS on the Bulgarian side, put their signatures on the document. Prof. Thai graduated in automation and process control of thermal energy in Russia in 1997 and received his PhD in earth sciences and mathematics from the Heidelberg University, Germany, in 2005. He became a professor of mining in 2019 in his home country.

Scientists from BAS and VAST are actively collaborating in the field of natural sciences. Projects are implemented under a grant scheme and have a duration of 2 years.

After a call for proposals for joint projects at the end of 2024, five projects were approved in the framework of the BAS-VAST cooperation for the period 2026-2027:

  1. “Chemical composition and biological activities of essential oil-bearing plants from Northern provinces of Vietnam and sustainable development proposal”, project coordinator Prof. Antoaneta Trendafilova, PhD from the Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry.
  2. “Phytochemical studies of Vietnamese medical plants producing isoquinoline alkaloids”, project coordinator Assoc. Prof. Tsvetelina Doncheva, PhD from the Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry.
  3. “Taxonomic study of selected genera of free-living nematodes from the family Aporcelaimidae (Dorylaimida) and Anatonchidae (Mononchida) from Vietnam and Bulgaria”, project coordinator Asst. Prof. Milka Elshishka, PhD from the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research.
  4. “Insect biodiversity of Bach Ma National Park (Cental Vietnam) – new approaches and methods for field investigation”, project coordinator Assoc. Prof. Mario Langourov, PhD from the National Museum of Natural History.
  5. “Diversity and activity patterns of bats and their ectoparasites along urban-forest gradient: insights from Bulgaria and Vietnam”, project coordinator Asst. Prof. Ilya Acosta, PhD from the National Museum of Natural History.

Their implementation will start from 1 January 2026.