- Important Events - Exchange of Visits - Agreements signed - Negotiations under way - CEP - State Visit of the President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to Bulgaria Joint Statement on the occasion of the state visit of H.E.Mr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, President of the Republic of India, to the Republic of Bulgaria (22-24 October 2003) Speech by the President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalamat the banquet hosted by the President of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov (October 23, 2003)   Address by the President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to the Sofia University (October 23, 2003). Joint Statement on the occasion of the state visit of H.E.Mr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam, President of the Republic of India, to the Republic of Bulgaria (22-24 October 2003) 1. At the invitation of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria H.E. Mr. Georgi Parvanov, the President of the Republic of India, H.E. Mr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam paid a state visit to the Republic of Bulgaria on 22-24 October 2003. 2. During the visit, H.E. Mr. Abdul Kalam met with the President of the Republic of Bulgaria H.E. Mr. Georgi Parvanov. He also had meetings with H.E. Prof. Ognyan Gerdjikov, Chairman of the National Assembly and H.E. Mr. Simeon Saxe-Coburg Gotha, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria. 3. The Presidents of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of India held extensive talks in an atmosphere of close friendship and mutual understanding that traditionally characterize the Indo-Bulgarian relationship. They covered the entire gamut of bilateral relations, exploring new ways of enhancing the partnership between the two countries in the 21st century based on shared democratic values. 4. The Sides expressed their satisfaction at the growth of the Indo-Bulgarian relationship in a number of areas and welcomed the intensity of high-level bilateral visits undertaken by both sides. In this connection, the Sides agreed to keep up the momentum of exchanging high-level political visits in future. 5. The Sides attached significance to the holding of meetings at the highest level and development of cooperation between the various Ministries and Regions/States, as well as private entities of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of India. 6. The Sides noted the importance of the Inter-Parliamentary cooperation and called for the intensification of interaction of bilateral parliamentary exchanges. 7. The Sides, after taking into account the untapped potential for bilateral cooperation, considered the ways for deepening mutually beneficial cooperation in areas of common interest. They reiterated the need to expand bilateral trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation. 8. The Sides discussed the possibility of bilateral investments and took note of the need to enhance such cooperation. The Sides also noted that the business and scientific circles of both countries should establish direct contacts for the implementation of industrial, scientific and technical projects. 9. In this context, the Sides reiterated the importance of the Indo-Bulgarian Joint Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical cooperation, the Indo-Bulgarian Joint Business Council, the Indo-Bulgarian Joint Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation, the Indo-Bulgarian Joint Committee on Defence Co-operation, as well as other mechanisms of state support for the development of bilateral ties. 10. The Sides underlined the mutual aspiration for strengthening the contacts and cooperation in the fields of culture, education and training, including promotion of Bulgarian studies and Indology in India and Bulgaria respectively. The Bulgarian Side expressed its appreciation of the assistance in the field of training rendered by the Government of India under ITEC Programme. 11. The Sides expressed satisfaction that the Treaty on Extradition between the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Government of the Republic of India has been signed during the current visit. The Agreement for cooperation on Youth Affairs and Sports signed during the visit will ensure widening the scope of bilateral interaction. The MoU between the Bulgarian Association of Information Technology and the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council of India, which was also signed during this visit, will further tap the inherent strengths of both our growing economies and enhance bilateral economic cooperation. 12. The Sides held detailed exchange of views on regional and international issues of mutual interest which revealed a close proximity of viewpoints. The Sides noted the high level of interaction and cooperation between Bulgaria and India at the U.N. and other multilateral fora and expressed their intention to further cooperate in this field. Special mention was made of the successful tenure of the Republic of Bulgaria in the United Nations Security Council during 2002-2003. 13. The Sides reaffirmed the need to uphold the principles of International Law, and the provisions of the UN Charter in regard to international relations. The Sides noted the importance of politico-diplomatic methods of settlement of international conflicts. They also stressed the need to strengthen the role of the UN in the fight against international terrorism, cross-border criminal activity, illegal traffic of narcotics and in resolving other pressing problems of the modern world. 14. The Sides condemned the growth of terrorism, which threatens international peace and security. They reiterated that terrorism cannot be justified on any grounds, whether political, ethnic, religious, or any other. They agreed that every State has the duty to refrain from organizing, instigating, assisting or participating in terrorist acts in another State or acquiescing in organized activities within its territory directed towards the commission of such acts, and further agreed that all States must refrain from providing any form of support, active or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts. In this regard, both Sides stressed the importance of the effective implementation of Security Council Resolution 1373. They supported early adoption and implementation of a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism. The Sides agreed to explore the possibility of forming a Joint Working Group to further cooperate in combating terrorism. 15. The Republic of India considers the Republic of Bulgaria as a friendly state pursuing a balanced and independent foreign policy. The Indian Side confirms and honours the path of development chosen by the people of Bulgaria and supports the efforts of the Republic of Bulgaria to integrate into the European Union. 16. The Republic of Bulgaria considers India, a friendly state and home to one sixth of humanity, an important player in the community of nations. Underlining the importance of expanding the United Nations Security Council in order to make it more representative and to increase its effectiveness, in the context of the overall reform of the United Nations, the Republic of Bulgaria reiterated its support for India’s candidature for Permanent Membership of the expanded United Nations Security Council. 17. The Indian Side highly appreciated the constructive policy of the Republic of Bulgaria as a factor of stability in Southeast Europe and its efforts to promote multi-faceted regional cooperation, including successful implementation of various infrastructural projects, to ensure security and prosperity in the region. 18. In the context of the situation in South Asia, the Bulgarian Side expressed its high appreciation of Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s initiative for normalizing and improving India’s relations with Pakistan and reiterated its support for settlement of all bilateral issues between India and Pakistan in accordance with the Simla Agreement of 1972 and the Lahore Declaration of 1999. 19. The President of the Republic of India Mr. Abdul Kalam visited Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” and interacted with students and faculty members. He also met eminent Bulgarian scientists, indologists and friends of India, and visited the Rila Monastery. 20. The President of the Republic of India Mr. Abdul Kalam extended an invitation to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Mr. Georgi Parvanov to pay a state visit to the Republic of India. The invitation was accepted with pleasure. The dates for the visit will be finalized through diplomatic channels. 21. The President of the Republic of India expressed sincere gratitude to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria for the hospitality and excellent organization of the visit to Bulgaria by the Indian delegation. Sofia, 24 October 2003 SPEECH BY THE HON'BLE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA, DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM AT THE BANQUET HOSTED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA, H.E. MR. GEORGI PARVANOV. (Thursday, 23 October 2003) Your Excellency Mr. Georgi Parvanov, Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen. It is both an honour and a pleasure for me to be in your midst in the historic capital city of Sofia. Bulgaria is an ancient land, with a long history and a glorious cultural heritage. We know of its literary, philosophical and cultural tradition. The statue of Sofia, in the Centre of this beautiful city, holding the symbols of fame and wisdom in her hands and wearing the crown of the Goddess of fate truly characterizes the aspirations of all mankind. India and Bulgaria have a long-standing friendship. Both have ancient civilizations and our histories have involved contacts with numerous other societies. We have been able to benefit from this by assimilating in our cultures various facets of other civilizations. This has enabled the development of India's and Bulgaria's multi-culturalism drawn from different religious, ethnic and linguistic groups. This is an abiding gift from our previous generations, which we in turn are preserving for the future. India and Bulgaria have always had wide-ranging contacts between our Governments and our people. Our co-operation is multi-dimensional and extends to the realms of politics, trade and economics, science and technology and culture. This relationship is based on continuity and mutual understanding. The exchange of Presidential Visits in 1994 to Sofia and in 1998 to New Delhi has provided the momentum to strengthen and broad base our contacts. My own visit here is in continuation of these high-level exchanges and we hope that it will serve to further enhance our bilateral co-operation. Time has come both Bulgaria and India should identify the core competence in specific areas and select projects of importance for joint design, development, production and marketing in a time-bound manner. I am glad that both countries have identified a number of scientific research projects under the Indo-Bulgarian Science & Technology cooperation. Excellency, I am confident that Indo-Bulgarian Partnership has a bright future. In the new millennium, the entire world is moving in the direction of free and democratic systems. India and Bulgaria share these values. In our own experience of the last fifty years and more, we have found the democratic parliamentary system an appropriate vehicle for serving the needs and aspirations of our people. As with the polity, the current century is seeing a general consensus on the need to undertake structural economic reforms to open up possibilities for enhancement of the welfare of the people of this planet. In India, we are proceeding with the second generation of our economic reforms and are happy to see the success that we have been able to obtain. India is increasingly recognized as a global economic power with notable successes in the frontier areas of information technology, science, space technology and in newly emerging technologies such as nano and bio technology. We have seen that Bulgaria has undertaken major steps in the process of liberalization and has rapidly moved towards a free market economy. I am sure that this will open up opportunities for further extending our economic and commercial ties. The high value attached to education in both our countries and the strong human capital base that we have been able to build up will definitely strengthen mutually beneficial co-operation. Our two way business is presently very limited. We should enhance our trade and business to billion dollars in a few years time. In India, we believe that the fruits of economic progress should be widely available, especially to the under-privileged sections of our population. The world still has a lot to do for eradication of poverty, unemployment and disease; this shared responsibility must be borne by the global community as a whole. In the realm of international affairs, we too need to address the question of attainment of an equitable world order. We are happy to see that the international community is, indeed, making efforts for such a just system based on respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of States. The United Nations should function as a true international body and empowered by all members to lead to cohesive conclusions and actions. At the same time, Excellency, as you are aware, new challenges and threats have emerged. The most serious issue we are currently confronted with is that of international terrorism. Terrorism has become a major force jeopardizing international peace and security. It would seem that no State or people are free from this danger. Both India and Bulgaria have a common perception on the dangers posed by this menace. The international community has to take concerted action to isolate and eliminate the sources of such terrorist acts, the impact of which has been felt, by innocent victims including women and children. No terrorist act can be justified on any ground whatsoever. I hope, Excellency, that we shall continue to work jointly and with renewed vigour to eliminate this scourge from the globe. The Bulgarian and Indian people have had close contacts. The great Bulgarian revolutionary Georgi Rakovski has written that "The oldest civilization in the world was that of India and different beliefs and customs originated from it". The works of Gandhi, Tagore and Nehru have been translated into Bulgarian and have been popular here. Bulgarian poets Hristo Botev and Hristo Smirenski have exercised influence on Indian writers. During the 19th century, Bulgarian literature reflected the national consciousness and patriotic sentiments as did the writings in India during our freedom struggle. The contacts in the cultural sphere continue and I know that many Bulgarians travel to India to study literature, dance, music and philosophy. I was very happy to note that the Sofia University has a separate Indology Department which offers courses in the languages, history and philosophy of India. The interest amongst Bulgarians in Indian classical music, yoga and ancient Indian scriptures are only some of the aspects of Indian society that have been absorbed in this country. I am also glad to learn that Bulgarian Sportsmen and coaches have been training Indian sportspersons who get the benefit of the experience of your great sporting nation. From our side we could suggest some new areas of cooperation in which India has gained experience. These could include pharmaceuticals, food processing, power and also a sharing of our experience of privatisation. I am optimistic that flourishing economic and scientific ties will take more and more Indians and Bulgarians to each other's country and forge our bonds of friendship further. Excellency, I would like to take this opportunity to convey my personal greetings and that of my delegation for the warm and friendly hospitality that has been accorded by you. This is in keeping with the time-honoured tradition of Bulgaria and its great people. It is also a reflection of the regard with which India is held in this beautiful country. ADDRESS BY THE HON'BLE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDIA, DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM TO THE SOFIA UNIVERSITY "ST.KLIMENT OHRIDSKI" (Thursday, 23 October 2003) National Development and Prosperity I am delighted to be amongst you today in this world-famous Sofia University, which bears the name of St. Kliment Ohridski. It gives me a great pleasure to know that this University was the first school of higher education in Bulgaria and was started in 1888. While going through the history of your University, I learnt that the establishment of this seat of learning is closely linked to the period of National Revival in Bulgarian history. That was the period when the Bulgarian people gathered spiritual and intellectual strength to establish their right to independent, political and social existence and to establish an institute to reflect their own culture and education. This once again emphasizes the fact that education is a powerful tool for national development leading to the prosperity of the nation. Before arriving here, I was thinking over the last few days on what thoughts I could share with the students and the faculty of this historic University. I was thinking how enlightened minds could help in the transformation of a society. My thoughts turned to the prominent and enlightened citizens of Bulgaria; Ephoria Evlogi and his brother Hristo Georgiev who donated a fairly large area of land and a sizeable amount of money to start the construction of this university. The dream finally took shape when the first lecturers were appointed in January 1888 and the first classes began a few months later in October 1888. It must have been a challenging but fulfilling period for the first Rector Professor Alexander Teodorov-Balan who began the new endeavor with just 43 students. Today it has grown to be one of the biggest and finest Universities in this part of the globe. India and Bulgaria Friendship India and Bulgaria share a friendship that has stood the test of time. The first contacts between our peoples are said to have taken place as early as the 8th century AD. I am told that the prominent Bulgarian scholar, Kanev had devoted himself to studying the links between ancient Bulgarian and Indian scriptures as well as to translating the Vedas. In fact, recent research points to some similarities between the ancient Bulgarian script, Glagolitsa and one of our ancient scripts called Brahmi. Both our scholars have pointed out ancient cultural similarities in folk music, songs, literature and customs. The visit of one of our great poets Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore to Bulgaria in 1926 is still fondly remembered both in India and in Bulgaria. Several of his works have been translated into Bulgarian. I believe that our epics - the "Ramayana" and the "Mahabharata" as well as the "Panchatantras" are popular in your country. I am happy to note that the Sofia University has a separate Department of Indology set up in 1983 and eminent works have been brought out by Indologists of Bulgaria. I would like to thank the Indology students present here today for pursuing Indian studies and also the esteemed faculty members for imparting this education. Our heritages are understood through our manuscripts, literature, art and music. Sustained efforts are important ingredients in understanding these to provide crucial links between cultures of India and Bulgaria. In this regard, your Indology department through intense collaboration with Indian Universities would provide a window to the world where the past will meet the present and create the future in our bilateral relations. In today's fast changing world, I would like to urge the aspiring scholars to pursue studies about not only the rich and ancient culture of India but also the emerging modern and vibrant India. Our country has grown from a fledging economy at the time of our Independence in 1947 to being one of the large economies of the world. India's Core competence India today has core competence in many sectors including Information Technology, pharmaceuticals, textiles, automobiles, engineering and space technologies with strong industrial base. Now it has entered into Biotechnology and Nano Sciences and Technology. It is also one of the few countries that can build and launch her own satellites, large computing systems and embedded software. From a major food importer, India today exports food grains to more than 30 nations and that most of it goes as aid. From an indebted country, India today is turning into an assisting country, with the economy becoming stronger. Economic development in Bulgaria Bulgaria is also progressing rapidly. Its GDP growth rate was one of the highest in Europe last year. I see a tremendous potential for growth in our bilateral cooperation with the rapid growth of our economies. Economic growth is directly proportional to educational growth. I see a special role for students and academia in the emerging scenario. Strengthening existing links between the industry and the academia must be the focus area for new research. I understand the urge of today's youth to forsake tradition in favour of modernity. However, there is essentially little contradiction between these two seemingly different terms. Indian society as well as Bulgarian society has both maintained a proper balance between the new and the traditional. That is why the Indology Department at your University and the Slavonic Studies Department in Delhi have thrived, thereby providing stability to our mutually beneficial relations. Knowledge society In the 21st century, a new society is emerging where knowledge is the primary production resource instead of capital and labour. Efficient utilisation of this existing knowledge can create comprehensive wealth for the nation. Such a knowledge society has two very important components driven by societal transformation and wealth generation. The societal transformation has to be through large-scale development in education, healthcare, agriculture and governance. These in turn will lead to employment generation, high productivity and rural prosperity. IT industry throughout the world has amply demonstrated the economic advantages and wealth generation by the electronic network- this network permits knowledge to pass between isolated villages, towns, cities, countries and even the continents. The IT industry has shown that by transferring bits and bytes across geographically dispersed locations, knowledge multiplies and generates wealth. Information & Communication Technology (ICT) ICT has established that the data transformed into information has a business proposition, which has given a competitive advantage. I am sure by the end of this decade, countries like India will have IT enabled services in the fields of human resources, customer interaction, finance and accounting, data search and integration, e-education, tele-medicine and e-governance. Core competencies that can be exploited in addition to the above include Information Security, Scientific Software development that can spearhead a strong domestic market, Entertainment, Education, Hardware and chip design and Wireless. In India the software industry is exploring these areas to create a wealth of $80 billion by the year 2010. We strongly believe by a proper planning and the ability to move up the value chain we may even touch a target of $150 billion by 2010. Challenges and opportunities Changing times call for fresh solutions and answers. In today's world of questions, the academia must not fail in its duties to lead and channelise new energies and challenges. The early years of the 21st century I believe are going to be very important for the future course of human history. It is in these next few years that humanity will begin to face many different problems, which you from the younger generation will have to resolve. Globally, there is a likelihood of a crisis developing in the areas of energy, drinking water, and environmental protection. Terrorism is another challenge facing the world. Rapid integration of the global economic system, at a time when contrary and parochial and dangerous trends are fast emerging also remains a challenge for all of us, especially the academia. Many nations have to come together to evolve a vision to solve these global issues so that future generations can live peacefully and prosperously. I feel that education systems around the world will have to work to generate enlightened international citizens who would then be able to work together as citizens of the planet Earth to solve such problems together. How does one produce an enlightened international citizen? I feel, this can be done through a combination of education with a value system. The second important component will be religions graduating into a spiritual movement. Third and the most vital component is poverty eradication by attainment of economic prosperity by the developing countries. This will result in raising the living standards and will result in bringing peace to the individual, to the family, to the nation and would thereby result in peace on the planet earth. Having understood the core competencies of Sofia University and the Indian S&T Organisations and Universities, it is time Bulgaria and India identify and evolves joint advanced research projects. This will enable a flip to the scientific and technological co-operation between our countries, strengthening our long-term time tested cooperation. This will also strengthen the scientific capability of the Universities by sharing of knowledge. Conclusion In conclusion, I would like to say that both Bulgaria and India remain committed to enhancing academic interactions amongst their institutions and it is my firm resolve to seek out new ways and means to foster a long term relations with your University. My meetings with the leadership of Bulgaria and interaction with the Science Academy enhanced my own perceptions of our excellent ties, of which education and culture form a very essential part. I am very happy at having been offered this opportunity of addressing the students and teachers of your great University. With these words, I would like to thank the faculty for their relentless perseverance and I would like to wish the bright and young students of this University, the very best in their noble pursuits. May God bless you !