Bulgaria highly appreciates its relations with Japan and its friends who work to develop and strengthen them. This is what President Rumen Radev said at the ceremony held in the Bulgarian Embassy in Tokyo, at which Japanese statesmen were awarded high Bulgarian state honors for their contribution to strengthening the bilateral relations and partnership between Bulgaria and Japan, the presidential office reported.

At the ceremony Rumen Radev emphasized that in the past decades the relations between Bulgaria and Japan have grown into a shared friendship and are developing on the basis of mutually-beneficial cooperation. Japan is among the countries that offered the greatest support to Bulgaria during the transition period. The President also voiced his gratitude for the support offered by Japan for the training of Bulgarian sportsmen that will represent our country at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.

The Head of State awarded the Order of the Madara Horseman, First Class to Toshimitsu Motegi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan and Chairman of the Japan-Bulgaria Friendship Group in the House of Representatives (lower house) of the National Diet, for his great contributions to strengthening and developing the relations of friendship and cooperation between Bulgaria and Japan. Hiromi Yoshida, former Chairman of the Japan-Bulgaria Friendship Group in the House of Councillors (upper house) of the National Diet, also received the Order of the Madara Horseman, First Class. The Order of the Madara Horseman, Second Class, was presented to Kazunori Tanaka, Minister of Reconstruction and Secretary-General of the Japan-Bulgaria Friendship Group in the House of Representatives of the National Diet and Junichi Ishii, MP and Secretary-General of the Japan-Bulgaria Friendship Group in the House of Councillors of the National Diet.

Akiko Igaya, Director-General of the Japanese-Bulgarian Association for Friendship and Cultural Relations and Director-General of the Japan-Bulgaria Foundation was awarded the Order of Stara Planina, Second Class, for her great contribution to strengthening and developing the bilateral friendly relations and cooperation with Japan.

Bulgaria and Japan have a great potential for developing their economic relations and also for strengthening the contacts among the people regarding the forthcoming biggest sports forum in 2020 – the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said, for his part. 

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