Japan would celebrate 2009 as the year of Bulgaria, thus commemorating the 90th anniversary of the establishment of Bulgarian-Japanese diplomatic relations and the 50th anniversary of the reestablishment of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, a Foreign Ministry media statement said after Foreign Minister Ivailo Kalfins meeting with Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda.
Kalfin is in Japan on official visit between November 4 and 11 2007.
Kalfin told Fukuda that after Bulgarias EU accession Japan had another friend in the big European family in decisions of global and regional matters.
Bulgarias Foreign Minister thanked Japan for its help in Bulgarian reforms in the form of preferential loans, grants and technical co-operation in economy and social affairs sectors.
In turn, Fukuda thanked Bulgaria for its support for Japans nomination for non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council between 2009 and 2010 and the countrys nomination for permanent member of the council.
Fukuda said that in Japan, Bulgaria was famous as country where people live long due to the yoghurt and the Bulgarian rose products. As a result, Japanese people consumed big quantities of yoghurt, he said.
