Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng met with Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Atanas Zafirov on May 21.

Gong said that Shanghai established a friendship city relationship with Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, in 2016. He called for stronger exchanges and even more cooperation with Sofia in areas such as trade and investment, education and technology, culture, and tourism.

Zafirov expressed his eagerness to learn more about the charm of Shanghai — China's economic center. He also invited more Shanghai enterprises to invest in Bulgaria and encouraged more tourists from the city to discover the beauty of his country.