September 14, 2010


The National Assembly will support the construction of the first monument out of the country to commemorate Bulgarian volunteers who fought for its freedom. The monument will be located in the Ukrainian city of Bolgrad. The National Assembly Chair Tsetska Tsacheva made this commitment at the time of the visit of the Bulgarian parliamentary delegation led by her in Ukraine on September 14, 2010.

Tsetska Tsacheva noticed the nobleness of the initiative and promised to propose to the Chairmen’s Council of the Bulgarian Parliament to allocate funds from the assembly’s budget for the project. The construction of the monument, which will resemble the monument in the Bulgarian town of Shipka, have started in May 2010. A nine meter high column will bear the names of 210 Bulgarian volunteers from Bessarabia. The inauguration of the monument is scheduled for March 3, 2012.

During the visit Tsetska Tsacheva met with the Chairman of the Odessa Regional Council Mykola Skoryk. The National Assembly Chair highlighted the importance of the Black Sea cooperation for the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Ukraine and stressed that the agenda of the upcoming in October 2010, in Kiev, meeting of the Bilateral Government Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation is to consider important issues.

She expressed her gratitude for the excellent attitude of the Ukrainian authorities towards the Bulgarian community living there at a meeting with the Chairman of the Odessa City Council Edward Gurwits. Tsetska Tsacheva noted that the community serves as a living bridge between the two peoples.

The Bulgarian MPs met with representatives of the Bulgarian community in Odessa. Tsetska Tsacheva reassured them that the Bulgarian state is taking care of all Bulgarians abroad and that no Bulgarian outside of the country will be forgotten. The Director of Sofia City Library Mihail Belchev donated to the library of the Bulgarian Culture Centre in Odessa the book titled 'Kingdom of Slavs „authored by Mavro Orbini. The book is said to had inspired Paisius of Hilendar in writing his “ History of Slavs and Bulgarians” in the 18th century. According to official data Bulgarians in Ukraine are 204,600 or 0.4 per cent of the population. According to researchers of the Bulgarian community, however, when one considers the number of mixed marriages, twice as many people in Ukraine are of Bulgarian origin - 500 000. In the Odessa Region lives the largest group of ethnic Bulgarians - 150,600 people, whereas in the capital Kiev they are about 2000.

Tsetska Tsacheva has opened an exhibition named "The Age of King Ferdinand I", dedicated to 100th anniversary of the Consulate General in Odessa.

The Bulgarian parliamentary delegation included MPs Pavel Dimitrov, Chairman of the Group for Friendship between Bulgaria and Ukraine, Menda Stoyanova, Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, Nikolay Melemov (PG GERB), Krassimir Minchev (PG GERB), Kasim Dal (PG MRF) and Stoyan Ivanov (Ataka PG).The Chairman of the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, Rossen Ivanov and the Sofia City Library Director, Mihail Belchev were among the other members of the delegation.