Kristian Vigenin met with the Bulgarian community in Chișinău
During his two-day official visit to Moldova, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kristian Vigenin met with representatives of the Bulgarian community at the Embassy of Bulgaria in Chișinău. Vigenin was acquainted with the needs and the current problems of the Bulgarians in Moldova.
The community representatives shared their concerns about the possible negative impact of the ongoing educational reform in the Bulgarian schools in the country. They also highlighted the need to attract our business to cooperate and invest in the development of Bulgarian regions. The representatives of the Bulgarian community offered the Foreign Minister specific ideas for implementation of projects in the education sector.
Minister Kristian Vigenin welcomed the opportunity to meet with our compatriots in Moldova, noting that such contacts contribute to the enhanced understanding of the current problems and often lead to new ideas for better solutions. He informed the participants of the meeting with the results of the official talks with the Moldovan government officials and expressed the commitment of Bulgaria to find solutions to the discussed problems and to transform the proposed ideas into actual projects.
Minister Vigenin presented the award "Silver symbol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs" to Vasil Stoyanov, Director of the Bulgarian Theoretical Lyceum "Vasil Levski", for his contribution to the promotion and development of Bulgarian education and culture.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the BCRM "Bessarabian Bulgarians" , the Bulgarian district in Moldova , the Association of the Bulgarians in Moldova , teachers at the Bulgarian Theoretical Lyceum "Vasil Levski" in Chișinău, the Bulgarian programs on the Moldovan national radio and television and with business representatives from the local Bulgarian community.
Later , on the working dinner with Yevgeny Karpov, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and chief negotiator of the Transnistrian conflict and Octavian Calmac, Deputy Minister of Economy, chief negotiator of the Deep and Compressive Free Trade Agreement and co-chair of the Joint Bulgarian - Moldovan intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, Kristian Vigenin discussed issues related to regulating the Transnistrian conflict and the support of our country for the European perspective of the Republic of Moldova. He informed his hosts on Bulgaria's intention to insist on the signing of the Association Agreement and the Deep and Compressive Free Trade Agreement in the spring of 2014, within the framework of the European Commission current mandate.
The program of the official visit of Minister Kristian Vigenin to Moldova for today includes meetings with representatives of the Bulgarian community in Taraklia - the center of Bulgarian-populated administrative district in the southern part of the country.