The fact, that on 2007 January 1^st Bulgaria became a member of the EU, has made it necessary to further strengthen the friendly relations, that traditionally exist between Hungary and Bulgaria, and also to specify new guiding lines, which would be appropriate to the changed international status of the two countries.

On 2006 August 25^th, when Ferenc Gyurcsány, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary paid an official visit to Sofia, the two Prime Ministers agreed on the most important issues of the bilateral cooperation within the framework of the EU: the Western Balkans, energy policy and matters, connected to specific politics.

On 2007 January 1^st Ms Katalin Szili, Chairman of the Hungarian Parliament, participated officially at the formal ceremony, celebrating Bulgaria’s EU membership, and Georgi Pirinski, Chairman of the Bulgarian Parliament, officially returned the visit on 2007 September 27-29^th. Those visits facilitated the further strengthening of the existing links between the two Parliaments and gave the chance to negotiate a more active exchange of experience.

On 2007 October 12^th Ms Kinga Göncz, Hungary’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, visited Sofia officially. During that visit the two Foreign Ministers signed a new, up-to-date protocol on cooperation between the two Ministries, creating the appropriate mechanism, which corresponded to the changed terms of bilateral relations matrix.

The official visit of the President of the Republic of Hungary, László Sólyom to Bulgaria on 2008 February 5-6^th was the symbolic  summit of the political process, aimed to create a new quality level in the Hungarian-Bulgarian relations.

The successful development of bilateral economic links is well illustrated by statistics, showing that in 2007 Hungarian capital, invested in Bulgaria totaled 950.2 million € which placed Hungary 9^th on the host country’s ranking list of the greatest foreign capital investors, while during the same year total commercial turnover reached 765.6 million €. Objective conditions are judged to favour further growth of Hungarian capital export. In the Autumn of 2009 Hungary is to be the so called “Partner country” at the International Plovdiv Fair, which is an another good opportunity to stimulate further development.