Bulgarian President Rumen Radev here on Thursday awarded the highest state honor, the Order of the Stara Planina, First Class, to the Chinese Ambassador to Bulgaria Zhang Haizhou.

　　"I believe that this high honor is an expression of the appreciation of all of us for the efforts of Ambassador Zhang and his team to deepen and expand our cooperation," Radev said at the award ceremony.

　　This award was also an expression of the great importance that Bulgaria attached to the relations and cooperation with the People's Republic of China, Radev said.

　　This year was extremely productive, with events such as the visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Bulgaria, and the hosting of the China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Summit and the subsequent meeting of local leaders from China and CEEC only a few months later, Radev said.

　　In addition to these high-level meetings, many other events were organized and agreements have been reached in areas of economy, trade, energy, healthcare, agriculture, culture, tourism and education, Radev said.

　　For his part, the Chinese ambassador said "My two-and-a-half year mandate was not that long, but I deeply felt the good attitude of the Bulgarian people towards the Chinese, which is a solid basis for bilateral co-operation."

　　A number of important events of historical significance for Sino-Bulgarian friendly relations and cooperation occurred in 2018, Zhang said.

　　Meanwhile, bilateral trade has increased by more than 20 percent, and the practical cooperation in fields such as finance, environmental protection, energy, agriculture, tourism, culture and education achieved many tangible results, Zhang also said.