Bulgarian president awards Madara Rider order to Armenia`s ambassador

ArmInfo. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev awarded the Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Bulgaria Armen Yedigaryan with the Order of the Madara Rider of the First Degree at  a ceremony held in the Coats of Arms.

According to the information of the Armenian Embassy in Bulgaria, the  state award was presented to the diplomat for his great services in  strengthening and developing bilateral Bulgarian-Armenian relations.

President Radev expressed satisfaction with the excellent relations  of sincere friendship and effective cooperation between Armenia and  Bulgaria. It was noted that during his tenure, Ambassador Yedigaryan  made consistent efforts to develop these relations, despite a number  of objective difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and  regional and global crises.

The President noted the importance of maintaining dialogue,  relations, and contacts at the highest political level, and in 2022  the countries celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of  diplomatic relations.

The Bulgarian President noted that during Yedigaryan's tenure at the  Armenian diplomatic mission, there has been a serious development of  trade and economic relations between the two countries, especially  after 2022, when trade turnover between the countries increased by  more than 50% and this trend continues today. He noted that an  extremely important step in this direction is the opening of a  permanent flight between Yerevan and Sofia, as well as the signed  protocol on the establishment of the Armenian-Bulgarian Chamber of  Commerce and Industry. According to him, the potential for  cooperation between the countries is enormous and is in the context  of expanding ties between Europe and Asia in terms of transport,  energy and digital technologies.

Ambassador Edigaryan thanked the President of the country for the  high appreciation of his work. "Almost four years ago, I had the  pleasure of presenting my credentials in this building. At that time,  our region was engulfed in a tragic war with catastrophic  consequences in Nagorno-Karabakh, not to mention the Covid-19  pandemic," the Armenian Ambassador said. "Several elections have  taken place in Bulgaria since April 2021, which create uncertainty  regarding practical cooperation with foreign partners.Against this background, we have achieved success in our political dialogue, as it continues unhindered," Ambassador Edigaryan said.

It should be noted that the Order of the Madara Horseman (Order of the  Madara Horseman - Bulgarian) was first established on August 4, 1966.  After the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria, the order was  preserved as politically neutral. It is awarded to Bulgarian and  foreign citizens for particularly great merits in establishing,  strengthening and developing bilateral relations with the Republic of  Bulgaria.