site.btaBulgarian Ambassador to Canada Plamen Georgiev Meets with Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim

Within the framework of his visit to the city of Vancouver, as an honorary guest of the First Bulgarian Festival in North America "Kanatitza", the Bulgarian Ambassador to Canada Plamen Georgiev held an official meeting with Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, the Bulgarian Embassy in Ottawa announced on its website. 

At the meeting, held on September 22 in the Municipality building, Bulgaria's Ambassador was accompanied by Velislava Panova, Consul General of Bulgaria in Toronto. The purpose of the meeting was to ensure greater visibility of the Bulgarian community in Vancouver and to expand its influence in the region, the diplomatic mission said.

Georgiev thanked the City of Vancouver and the Mayor personally for the good attitude towards the Bulgarian community in the city and the support provided so far. During the conversation the possibilities for more cooperation between the municipal authorities and the local Bulgarian organization and its even greater involvement in the activities of Vancouver were discussed.

"Our community representatives from the Greater Vancouver area are Canadian citizens, mainly highly educated and well accomplished professionally. Our community in and around the city numbers about 10,000 people who are well integrated and accepted by the local Canadian community. In this regard, the Bulgarian side outlined the entire wide range of activities that the Bulgarian community in the city is currently engaged in, as well as plans for upcoming initiatives within the current and next calendar years," the publication said. 

The Bulgarian Ambassador also expressed his gratitude to the Mayor for the illumination of the Municipality building in the colours of the Bulgarian flag for the national holiday of March 3 - an event that was initiated by the Consulate General of Bulgaria in Toronto for a second consecutive year. In addition to the Municipality building, the Burrard Bridge has also been illuminated in the colours of the flag in recent years.

Sim received a special invitation to attend the First Bulgarian Festival in North America " Kanatitza", with the participation of numerous Bulgarian folklore groups from cities across Canada and the US (Vancouver, Denver, Toronto, Los Angeles, San Diego, Montreal, Kitchener, Seattle, Calgary). The festival is dedicated to traditional Bulgarian embroidery, for which the organizers have planned a special exhibition. The event is organized with the support of the Consul General of Bulgaria in Toronto.

In view of the planned new initiatives in the cultural life of the city, Mayor Sim was asked for additional support for the Bulgarian community. 

Sim has expressed his appreciation for the Bulgarian community in the city and the activities it is developing, and has committed to Georgiev to continue to provide all possible support to Bulgarians and to their cultural and social initiatives.

It was also agreed that the Municipality would assist in the holding of a Bulgarian Cultural Heritage Day in Vancouver in the next calendar year, as well as the adoption of a declaration declaring May 24 as Bulgaria Day - "an initiative that was welcomed again by Mayor Sim, whose priorities since his election to the post at the end of 2022 have been precisely the promotion of intercultural dialogue and diversity among the representatives of the various communities in the province of British Columbia and specifically in the city of Vancouver", the Embassy said. The possibility for the Municipality of Vancouver to identify a suitable place in the city to plant Bulgarian roses - as a Bulgarian gesture to the city and a symbol of the constructive Bulgarian presence in Vancouver, was also discussed.

At the meeting between the Bulgarian representatives and the Mayor of Vancouver, it was agreed to ensure continuity in the excellent level of cooperation achieved, and to sustain the same in the future - for the benefit of the Bulgarian community in the city and to achieve the priorities of the Mayor of Vancouver for the successful development of a better urban environment and for the successful work with all ethnic communities in the city.