Why Bulgaria wants stronger relations with Nigeria – Bulgarian Lawmaker

Vladislav Panev, a member of the Bulgarian parliament, led a group of lawmakers from the Eastern European country to Nigeria in late February on the invitation of the Nigeria-Bulgaria friendship group at the Nigerian House of Representatives for a parliamentary exchange.

The former journalist and economist has been a lawmaker for just three years but has been a member of five parliaments already following the difficulty of forming a government. Bulgaria operates a parliamentary republican system of government.

During the visit, PREMIUM TIMES interviewed Mr Panev about various areas of interest.

Excerpts

PT: How can the world strengthen the tools of lawmaking so that it promotes global peace?

Mr Panev: I think that should be a common goal for all societies to prevent such events from happening. For example, in Russia and Ukraine right now, it is a terrible war for us and especially for the Ukrainian people.

Democracy is a tool and now in the era of social networks where radical propaganda is in front of the eyes of the public, we (lawmakers) have to be very careful about how we communicate with our people.

We can see that the radical movements are making progress throughout the world. It is not only a problem in Africa or Europe. It is similar to the US.

PT: Do you think there should be special laws made by countries to help promote peace?

Mr Panev: I think that is a very small part of the parliament’s duty. I mean the promotion of peace is a matter of multinational relations.

PT: What are you looking to get from this parliamentary exchange?

Mr Panev: We are looking to strengthen relations between Nigeria and Bulgaria. However, political exchanges are only one amongst other ways in which countries can strengthen relations; certain businesses are even ahead of politics.

For example, decades ago, a Bulgarian company built the National Theatre in Lagos. We have great potential in energy production, and grain exports amongst others.

We can help Nigeria make progress economically and also in education. Many Nigerians are already studying in Bulgaria. If we can push this, it will be great.

PT: What are the incentives for Nigerian students to school in Bulgaria?

Mr Panev: First of all, Bulgaria will become a member of the Schengen Zone by March 31, which should liberalise the visa regime between Bulgaria and countries outside the Schengen Zone. We have had to deal with some regimes that made authorities strict with visas.

Also, Bulgaria is more affordable compared to some countries in Europe. We have very good medicine and engineering schools. I think we have advantages for African students especially. Most of our courses are now taught in English and have the choice to learn in Bulgaria.

PT: Like other countries, are there scholarship opportunities available to Nigerian students?

Mr Panev: We are about to conclude the bilateral agreement that is mostly about scholarships and we have already dispatched a scholarship design for Katsina State. We are working on several other initiatives but the main one is the bilateral agreement between both governments about the scholarship that is going to be announced soon.

PT: Why Katsina State?

Mr Panev: We consider this place a priority partner. We already developed cooperation with Katsina State in terms of agricultural technologies so we see it as a continuation of this and mostly, this is a private Bulgarian university-driven process. They selected Katsina as one of their allies.

PT: Can you speak about the vaccine production partnership?

Mr Panev: It is a project under the Bulgaria cooperation programme. It is a joint initiative of Bulgaria and the EU delegation under the Team Europe initiative and this is implemented by the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development in Nigeria. The final outcome is the national plan for vaccine production in Nigeria that has been unveiled by the minister of state for health in late January.

The main goal is to transform Nigeria from a vaccine importer into a vaccine producer; that will be a great game changer for not only Nigeria but Africa. Our logic is that global health cannot be achieved without achieving health sovereignty in Africa, especially in Nigeria. So, for this year, we are envisaging another contribution which will focus on the implementation and capacity development not just the policy documents for this vaccine production. This vaccine production is one of Bulgaria’s biggest contributions to Nigeria in the last three decades.

PT: What tools are necessary to improve the trade relations between Nigeria and Bulgaria?

Mr Panev: In the past years, Bulgaria has focused on achieving its status in Europe. Our foreign policy was Eurocentric, now we are working towards re-establishing and readapting our positions in other parts of the world including Africa. The trade numbers at the moment may not show this but we are on track. There are many fields where we are partnering that have the potential to boost the numbers.

Bulgaria has always considered Africa and Nigeria as a partner.

PT: Speak to me about the protocol on cooperation between Nigeria and Bulgaria

Mr Panev: It is a protocol for bilateral cooperation signed in 2022. It is the first between both countries in decades. It is more or less political than specific in any other area. We are now looking forward to implementing it fully through rounds of political consultations.

There is a specific Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on military training that we are hoping will be signed very soon because we have already extended an invitation for Nigeria’s participation in the biggest military exhibition in southeastern Europe this year in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. We hope that will provide the necessary occasion for the signing of the agreement.

PT: What will this military training entail?

Mr Panev: It is a classical military exchange. Exchange in military delegation and joint exercises. This military exchange started long before this MoU; last year we hosted the National Defence College for a study visit for about three days in Bulgaria. We are happy this exchange happened because it helped in identifying areas where Nigeria and Bulgaria can cooperate. This is not only in defence but also in the transfer of technologies and doing things together in different places to bring added value for both nations.

PT: At what point will European countries come together to halt the war in Ukraine?

Mr Panev: When the war will end is dependent on President Putin himself. I cannot say when it will end or what steps European countries can take other than helping Ukraine because we do not know who is next. We are eager to help Ukraine.