PLOVDIV, Bulgaria - The largest Bulgarian-Chinese forum for investment and tourism ever, which was held in Bulgaria's second biggest city Plovdiv Tuesday under the patronage of Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, stimulated bilateral business relations.

Some 150 Chinese companies and over 250 of their potential partners from Bulgaria participated in the forum titled "Discover and Invest in Bulgaria", organized by the Bulgarian Travel and Investment Development Centre in China (BTIDCC), together with the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Invest Bulgaria Agency, Plovdiv Municipality and the Bulgarian-Chinese Business Development Association.

"Forum today launches a new development of the relations between Bulgaria and China and building a bridge of friendship and mutually beneficial business partnerships," Ivan Todorov, Chairman of BTIDCC said at the opening ceremony.

Violeta Lorer, Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism said that with this event Bulgaria wanted to demonstrate its desire for more dynamic dialogue, and express will and support for more intensive and massive development of bilateral economic and trade relations and expansion of Chinese investment in Bulgaria.

China was a leading traditional partner for Bulgaria, she said, adding that, in 2012, bilateral trade reached the highest level in the last 12 years, surpassing $1.7 billion.

During the period 1996-2012, the Chinese investment in Bulgaria reached 85 million euros ($109 million), with 67 million euros invested during the last two years, Lorer said.

According to Evgeni Angelov, Economic Adviser to the President of Bulgaria, China's ambition to develop its companies through investments in promising markets, combined with strong indicators and positive outlook on Bulgaria, made the two countries suitable strategic partners.

Chinese Ambassador to Bulgaria Guo Yezhou said China was ready to share development opportunities. "Whether you are facing the Asian financial crisis or the European debt crisis, we are ready to turn crises into opportunities by deepening mutually beneficial joint cooperation," Guo said.

Just before the beginning of hundreds of bilateral meetings on Tuesday afternoon, representatives of the two parties told Xinhua about a number of ideas for specific projects.

Todorov said that in process of discussing was the possibility of opening a direct airline between the Chinese city of Wenzhou and Bulgarian capital Sofia. Setting up a center for Chinese goods, and a textile center in Bulgaria were also under discussion, Todorov said.

"When there are pilot projects supported by the two countries, then more private companies will gain confidence, conviction and a desire to develop relationships," Todorov said.

Plamen Panchev, Board Chairman of Sienit Holding said that his company had 20 years of experience in the creation of industrial zones, and has already established business relationship with leading Chinese companies, including Huawei.

Krastio Belev, a representative of the Bulgarian Consulate in Shanghai, added two other potential projects. He said that a clothing company in Zhejiang province has decided that for the European market was purely logistical more reasonable to base its production in Bulgaria.

Xu Lianbao, President of Shanghai Bainaing Apiculture Co., Ltd. told Xinhua it was his fourth time to visit Bulgaria. He said its products were very popular in Bulgaria because it has already presented them in the Balkan country. He was hoping to have some pragmatic collaboration there, he said.

Dong Tao, Vice-president of Shanghai Foreign Investment Development Board, said 32 Shanghai companies from sectors of machinery, textile industry, tourism, and investment participated in this event. Chinese textile companies had huge interest to collaborate with Bulgarian partners, Dong added.