site.btaExecutive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad President Meets with Heads of Bulgarian Organizations in Odesa

At the initiative of the Bulgarian Consulate General in Odesa and with the assistance of the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad a working meeting with the heads of Bulgarian organizations in Odesa was organized in the building of the Bulgarian diplomatic mission. They were welcomed by Consul General Svetoslav Ivanov and the President of the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Raina Manjukova. 

The meeting was attended by Dimitar Terzi, Director of the Bulgarian Cultural Centre, Yuri Gramatik, Chairman of the Congress of Bulgarians in Ukraine, Aleksey Kutsarev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Youth Club "Active", Dmitry Petkov, Ekaterina Gerzhik, Director of the Ukrainian-Bulgarian Educational Centre "Media", Valery Tverdovsky, chairman of the Bulgarian People's Assembly in Ukraine, Dora Kostova, editor of "Roden Krai" newspaper and chairman of the Assembly of Bulgarians in Ukraine, Gennadiy Vorobyov and Alexander Baron from the Bulgarian media resource "Bessarabian Front".

"The Agency was established to coordinate Bulgaria's policy among Bulgarian communities around the world in the field of culture and other activities. Bulgarian communities have different specificities.  Our communication with the Bulgarian communities and the Bulgarian diplomatic missions is very important. As an example, I would point to the successful cooperation with the Consulate General of Bulgaria in Odesa," Manjukova said. 

She talked about the Agency's upcoming programme tasks related to the development of Bulgarian culture among Bulgarian communities worldwide.

Regarding the "Strategy for Bulgarians Abroad", Raina Manjukova explained that there is such a programme, it has been discussed many times, but it has not been adopted by a decision of the Council of Ministers. 

As a positive result, she pointed to the Education Ministry of Bulgaria, where the policy for Bulgarians abroad has been implemented very successfully for more than 30 years, she said.

The Consul General pointed out that Bulgaria, as a European country, raises the issue of guaranteeing equal rights and freedoms to Bulgarians in Ukraine along with other minorities in the field of preserving the native language, and said that Bulgaria supports Ukraine in its European integration. 

The Bulgarian organizations raised the issues related to the forthcoming campaign for students to study in Bulgarian universities, the preservation of the Bulgarian language among the Bulgarian community in Ukraine, and the promotion of Bulgarian memorial and cultural sites.

Gennadiy Vorobyov presented the Bulgarian media resource "Bessarabian Front", established in July 2022 at the beginning of the war in Ukraine. "We publish daily chronicles of the war in Ukraine in Bulgarian," he said. He also informed about Netpeak Bulgaria's assistance to schools in Odesa and Mykolaiv oblast, where computers, furniture, internet boards and others were handed over.