Prime Minister Rumen Radev will hold a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin tonight.
Radev chose the Federal Republic of Germany for his first foreign visit after taking office as Prime Minister. The expectations are that the meeting at the highest level will give new impetus to the political dialogue and outline the possibilities for deepening the strategic partnership between Sofia and Berlin.
The visit is at the invitation of Chancellor Friedrich Merz. After the official welcoming ceremony with military honors, the two will hold a "one-on-one" conversation. After that, a plenary meeting of the two delegations will take place with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, Investments and Industry Alexander Pulev and Minister of Foreign Affairs Velislava Petrova. The focus of the talks are topics from the sphere of bilateral cooperation, European policy, international security policy.
The visit strengthens the strategic and friendly relations between the two countries and is an expression of Bulgaria's desire to strengthen its partnership with Germany, both at the bilateral level and within the framework of multilateral cooperation, especially within the framework of the European Union and NATO.
Bulgaria and Germany maintain a strategic partnership with stable bilateral relations, with the federal republic being the leading foreign trade partner of our country, with trade exceeding 12 billion euros. Hundreds of German companies operate on the Bulgarian market, providing thousands of jobs in the automotive industry and industry. According to BNB data, total German investments in Bulgaria in 2025 amount to 4.2 billion euros.
The new stage in relations is related to the defense industry and large-scale joint projects with the Rheinmetall concern, which is investing in our country in gunpowder and projectile factories according to NATO standards. The investment was agreed by Radev within the framework of his mandate as president. In August last year, Rumen Radev was a guest at the opening of a new Rheinmetall plant. At that time, he announced that he expected a new growth in German investments in Bulgaria, as well as a more active inclusion of our country in pan-European projects in defense and high technologies.