ArmInfo. Bulgaria's chairmanship of the EU Council can facilitate Armenia's accession to the European Union in the future. The Bulgarian professor Nikolai Ovcharov expressed this viewpoint in a conversation with the correspondent of ArmInfo.
The Armenian-Bulgarian relations were established in the 9th-10th century, when Bulgaria adopted Christianity. According to him, even then, Bulgaria was heavily influenced by Armenia, Syria. "Today I visited Madenar, got acquainted with ancient manuscripts that had a direct impact on the formation of the Bulgarian Christian culture. Today, a different level of relations is natural, but I believe that Bulgaria's chairmanship in the EU Council can facilitate Armenia's accession to the European Union in the future. Armenia has always been a part of Europe, it is the first Christian state, and its place is in Europe," said the professor.
At the same time, Ovcharov believes that Armenia and Bulgaria could successfully develop cooperation in the economic and humanitarian spheres. According to him, the interaction of the two countries in the cultural sphere is very important. "It would be quite promising to develop cultural and historical tourism, which in turn will stimulate the economy of the two countries," he said, and cited as an example the fact that there are more than 43,000 cultural monuments on the territory of Bulgaria, and the country occupies the third line on the number of historical monuments along with Italy and Greece.
"Armenia is just a treasure trove of culture, we all know this very well. I think that Armenia has a serious potential for the development of historical and cultural tourism, it is only necessary to direct activities in this direction in the right direction. For Bulgarians, Armenia, is a friendly country, not so long ago the President of Bulgaria visited Armenia, and I think that his visit will also give a good impetus to the development of bilateral relations," the professor concluded.