site.btaBulgaria and Uruguay Can Cooperate in Antarctic Projects

Bulgaria and Uruguay can cooperate in their Antarctic projects, Bulgarian Honorary Consul in Uruguay, Igor Jorge Svetogorsky, told BTA during a visit to the Naval Academy in Varna on Friday. He met with Academy head Flotilla Admiral Boyan Mednikarov and discussed with him opportunities for cooperation in maritime affairs, research and education. “We would be very happy to set up some kind of cooperation with the Antarctic Institute of Uruguay,” he said. 

He explained that Uruguay, like Bulgaria, also has a permanent  base in Antarctica. It is close to the Bulgarian base, and also to the Chilean and the Argentine.

He believes that cooperation can also be established between the Varna Naval Academy and the Naval Academy in Uruguay, which he said is not as big and is only dedicated to the training of cadets and technical personnel.

Igor Jorge Svetogorsky agrees with Flotilla Admiral Mednikarov that cooperation can be enhanced with the Uruguayan Navy so that Bulgarian vessels can rely on its support in case it needs it.

The Honorary Consil said when he gets back home he will get in touch with the Bulgarian Ambassador, Stoyan Mihailov, who is in Buenos Aires but is also in charge of Uruguay, and try to coordinate the first contacts both with the Antarctic Institute and with the Navy, and probably set up some online meetings as a first step. He hopes that as a next step in-person meetings can be arranged next year when the Bulgarian naval research ship Sv. Sv Kiril i Metodii reaches South America en route to Antarctica during its third mission. ”Maybe if we have the time from now till then, we could eventually sign some kind of cooperation agreement,” he added. 

Igor Jorge Svetogorsky is a grandson of Kiril Svetogorsky who headed the Varna Naval Academy before migrating to Uruguay in 1922. 

It is the grandson’s first visit to the Academy, he told BTA.

He was accompanied by his 15-year-old son Kiril and 21-year-old daughter Irina. It is their first visit to Bulgaria. “It is kind of trying to witness the place of our roots. I have been in Bulgaria many times, but it is my first time in the Academy and it's also the first trip of my children to Bulgaria. I wanted them to know the country of their ancestors,” he said.

On this visit to Bulgaria, they have already been in Sofia, went to Rila, then Plovdiv and Nessebar on the Black Sea. Next they plan to visit Veliko Tarnovo and spend a couple of nights there.  Igor Jorge Svetogorsky says this travel is “the most emotional part” of the visit to Bulgaria.

Prof. Prof. Boyan Mednikarov briefed Svetogorsky on the education opportunities at the Naval Academy, the achievements of the team and its future projects and presented the guest with a plaque of the Naval Academy. The guest was shown the Academy’s new high-tech space lab. “Relations with Uruguay are very important for us because the country has a shipping industry in the Antarctic region,” Prof. Mednikarov stressed. He also said that the Academy has “a serious media partner” in the face of the Bulgarian News Agency.