Bulgaria: Japan Agrees To Extend Loans

Sofia, 21 November 1997 (RFE/RL) - Bulgaria's President Petar Stoyanov today returned to Sofia from a five-day visit to Japan. Stoyanov noted that, during his visit, Japan agreed to extend loans to Bulgaria totalling more than $100 million.

Most of that sum is to finance expansion of Bulgaria's largest port at Burgas on the Black Sea. Bulgaria and Japan also agreed Japan would help assess Bulgaria's water-purification systems, and officials agreed on a student cultural-exchange program.

Stoyanov, along with Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mikhailova and a delegation of Bulgarian business leaders, also met Japanese corporate executives to seek investment.