SOFIA, October 18. /TASS/. Bulgaria and Russia are getting ready to sign a five-year cooperation program in the sphere of culture and education, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zakharieva said in an interview with TASS in the run-up to her visit to Moscow set for October 21.

"I am ready to discuss cooperation with Russia in the priority areas for Bulgaria in the spheres of economy, energy, tourism and transport with [Russian Foreign] Minister Sergey Lavrov. We consider cooperation in the sphere of culture and education to be of great importance. The latest cooperation program in the sphere was designed for 2012-2014, and I hope that we will be able to sign a new program of cooperation in the sphere of culture, education and science planned for a five-year period," the minister stated.

Zakharieva added that she plans to hold "an exchange of opinions on the key regional and European security agenda" with Lavrov.

The Bulgarian diplomat was pleased to note that in the past 18 months, the states have recovered political dialogue at the top level. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and President Rumen Radev visited Russia in 2018, while Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev came to Sofia in March 2019. In June 2019, Radev and Russian President Vladimir Putin met on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. President of the Bulgarian National Assembly Tsveta Karayancheva also came to Moscow on an official visit.

"I think that these visits and meetings have opened up new opportunities for boosting various areas of bilateral cooperation," she said, noting that "there are clear and stable opportunities to realize the potential of mutually beneficial and equal development of bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Russia. "Activation of political dialogue must be reflected in the development of trade-economic relations," Zakharieva said.