site.btaObservances: January 9

Bulgaria:

- Day of the Higher Naval School of Varna.

On this date in Bulgarian history:

1881 - A school for ship engine operators and stokers is set up in Rousse. This is the oldest Bulgarian technical school of higher learning. A few years later it is moved to Varna. It is transformed into a higher marine engineering school in 1956 and into today's Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in 1991.

1970 - Bulgaria establishes diplomatic relations with the Central African Republic;

1990 - The New Social Democratic Party is set up;

2009 - The Bulgarian Retail Association is set up.