Brief historical information

The Government of the Republic of Bulgaria recognized the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan on 14 January 1992 and the diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on 5 June 1992. In December 1999 the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Republic of Azerbaijan was opened. On 16 April 2004, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 04 March 2015, “Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Bulgaria” was signed during the visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I.Aliyev to the Republic of Bulgaria. This document raised the bilateral relations between two countries into the level of strategic partnership and paved the way for new opportunities in bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

On 8 May 2024, during the official visit of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria R. Radev to Azerbaijan, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I.Aliyev and the President of the Republic of Bulgaria R.Radev signed the "Joint Declaration on strengthening the strategic partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Bulgaria".

High-Level Mutual Visits and Meetings

Heads of State:

On 29-30 June 1995, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan H. Aliyev paid an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 07-08 September 1998, President of the Republic of Bulgaria P.Stoyanov paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan to attend the International Conference on Restoration of the Historic Silk Route, which was held in Baku.

On 2-3 December 1999,  President of the Republic of Bulgaria P. Stoyanov paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 7-8 October 2004, President of the Republic of Bulgaria G. Parvanov paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 23-24 September 2005, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I. Aliyev paid an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 10-12 March 2008,  President of the Republic of Bulgaria G. Parvanov paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 22 January 2009, President of the Republic of Bulgaria  G. Parvanov paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 13 November 2009,  President of  the  Republic  of Azerbaijan I. Aliyev paid a  working visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 30 June -1 July  2010, President of the Republic of Bulgaria G.Pirvanov paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 14-15 November 2011, President of the Republic of Bulgaria G.Pirvanov paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 19-20 September 2014, President of the Republic of Bulgaria R. Plevneliev paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony of the "Southern Gas Corridor".

On 3-5 March 2015, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I. Aliyev paid an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 28-29 April 2015, President of the Republic of Bulgaria R. Plevneliev paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the III Global Open Societies Forum.

On 28-29 June 2015, President of the Republic of Bulgaria R. Plevneliev paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the closing ceremony of the first European Games.

On 12-14 October 2017, President of the Republic of Bulgaria R. Radev paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 30 September - 1 October 2022, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I. Aliyev paid an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 10 March 2023, President of the Republic of Bulgaria R. Radev paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 25 April 2023, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I. Aliyev paid a working visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 7-8 May 2024, President of the Republic of Bulgaria R. Radev paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Heads of Government:

On 6-7 October  2004, the delegation led by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as the co-chairman of the Azerbaijan-Bulgaria Intergovernmental Commission N.Vasilev paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the 2nd session of the Intergovernmental Commission held in Baku.

On 12-13 November 2007, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria S. Stanishev paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 29-30 September 2008, a delegation headed by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as the co-chairman of the Azerbaijan-Bulgaria Intergovernmental Commission A. Sharifov paod a working visit to the Republic of Bulgaria in order to participate in the 3rd session of the Intergovernmental Commission.

On 26-27 April 2012, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria B. Borisov paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 17 December 2013, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria P.Oresharski paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan to participate in the signing ceremony of the final investment decision on "Shahdeniz-2".

On 19-20 February 2014, Prime Minister of Bulgaria P.Oresharski paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 26-27 May 2015, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan E. Efendiyev paid a visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 12-13 June 2015, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria B. Borisov paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the opening ceremony of the 1st European Games.

On 15-16 January 2018, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria B. Borisov paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan. On 16 January 2018, Prime Minister B. Borisov took part in the ceremonial departure of the first Baku-Sofia direct flight performed by the first low-cost airline of Azerbaijan "Buta Airways" in Baku.

On 14-15 March 2019, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria B. Borisov paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the VII Global Baku Forum.

On 21 July 2022, Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria K.Petkov paid a visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Chairperson of Parliament:

On 27-30 September 2004, the Chairman of the National Assembly (Milli Majlis) of the Republic of Azerbaijan M. Alasgarov paid an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 24-25 November 2006, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria G. Pirinski paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 19-21 May 2008, Chairman of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan O. Asadov paid an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 13-15 May 2012, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria Ts. Tsacheva paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 27-28 November 2012, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria Ts. Tsacheva paid a working to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the 40th plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC PA). In the plenary session, the chairmanship of the Parliamentary Assembly of the BSEC passed from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria, according to the rotation.

On 18-21 December 2012, Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria G. Pirinski paid a working visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the 5th session of the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly held in Baku.

On 19-21 September 2018, President of the 44th National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria Ts.Karayancheva paid a visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan to participate in the ceremonial meeting held on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Parliament of Azerbaijan.

On 19-22 June 2019, a delegation led by the President of the 44th National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria Ts.Karayancheva paid a visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan to participate in the 53rd session of the BSEC PA held in Baku and to take over the PA chairmanship from Azerbaijan.

On 11-13 September 2023, the delegation led by the Chairwoman of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan S.Gafarova paid an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 4 March 2024, the delegation led by the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria R.Jelyazkov paid an official visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Foreign Ministers:

On 9-10 November 1997, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria N. Mihaylova paid a visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 15-16 March 2004, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria S. Passy paid a visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan as the acting chairman of the OSCE.

On 30 April 2004, the delegation led by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria I. Petkov paid a visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the event of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization held in Baku.

On 4-5 December 2004, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan E. Mammadyarov paid a visit to the Republic of Bulgaria in order to participate in the 12th session of the OSCE Ministers of Foreign Affairs held in Sofia.

On 17-18 April 2008, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan E. Mammadyarov paid an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 22 October 2009, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria R. Jeleva paid a visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan in order to participate in the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the BSEC held in Baku.

On 18 May 2010, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan M. Mammad-Guliyev paid a visit to the Republic of Bulgaria in order to participate in the 22nd meeting of Foreign Ministers of the BSEC held in Sofia.

On 11-12 December 2012, a delegation consisting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria N. Mladenov, Head of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Poland J. Mikhaylovski and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden G. Bildt paid a visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

On 4-7 February 2014, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Kh. Khalafov paid a visit to the Republic of Bulgaria in order to participate in the 1st political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Bulgaria held in Sofia.

On 18-20 June 2014, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan M. Mammad-Guliyev paid a visit to the Republic of Bulgaria in order to participate in the 30th meeting of foreign ministers of the BSEC held in Varna.

On 3-5 March 2015, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan E. Mammadyarov paid a visit to the Republic of Bulgaria as part of Azerbaijani delegation during the official visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I. Aliyev to Bulgaria.

On 31 October 2018, as part of the official visit of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Elmar Mammadyarov to Bulgaria, the 1st meeting of the Strategic Dialogue was held and bilateral, regional and global issues were discussed at the level of the foreign ministers of the two countries.

On 23-25 June 2019, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria E.Zaharieva paid an official visit to Azerbaijan to discuss the results of the 1st meeting of the Strategic Dialogue between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.

On 30 May - 1 June 2022, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan J.Bayramov paid an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria.

On 1 December 2023, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan Y.Rafiyev paid a visit to the Republic of Bulgaria in order to participate in the 4th political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Bulgaria held in Sofia.

Inter-Parliamentary relations:

The Working Group for the Azerbaijani-Bulgarian Interparliamentary Relations was created in December 2005. Rauf Aliyev, member of the Milli Majlis, is the head of the Working Group, which has 17 members.

Head of Bulgaria-Azerbaijan Interparliamentary Friendship Group is the Member of Bulgarian Parliament Hamid Hamid and it has 39 members.

Relations between cities:

Shaki – Gabrovo

On 7 October 2004, the Mayors of Shaki and Gabrovo signed the Joined Declaration, proclaiming Shaki and Gabrovo as sister cities.

Ganja – Varna

On 21 December 2016, during the visit of the mayor of Varna city I. Portni to Ganja city, “Charter on cooperation between Ganja city of Azerbaijan and Varna city of Bulgaria” was signed.

Sumgayit – Burgas

In 2018, by signing the “Agreement on establishment of friendship and partnership relations between the Sumgayit city of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Burgas city of the Republic of Bulgaria”,  sister city relations between Sumgayit and Burgas were established .

Nakhchivan-Veliko Tarnovo

On 18 April 2019, “Partnership Agreement on cooperation in fields of culture, tourism, city-building, education, science and economy between the Nakhchivan city of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Veliko Tarnovo city of the Republic of Bulgaria” was signed.