Visit to Haskovo – February 2019
Visit to Haskovo – February 2019 – John Townsend
Following and invitation from the Haskovo Chamber of Commerce, I travelled to Bulgaria on the 14th February by the early morning flight from Luton and was collected from Sofia airport and transferred to Haskovo in a Municipality car, kindly supplied by the Mayor, Mr Belivanov.
On Friday the 15th February, I visited the Chamber of Commerce Offices and subsequently attended the Chamber Business Conference in the main theatre. On this occasion, as well as the business representatives, District Governors, MPs, and foreign diplomats, the principle guest was the President of the Rupublic, Dr Rumen Radev. This was a considerable achievement for the Chamber and security was quite tight.
After brief speeches of welcome, the President was open to questions, some of which had been submitted in advance. I had submitted two questions and found myself as the second speaker. As a representative of the UK, I asked what Bulgaria’s view of Brexit was – and subsequently how they dealt with their border security with Non-EU Turkey. The President was pleased to see that we supported the event and said that they were disappointed that the UK was leaving the EU. He then responded that their border security was strict and was not a pattern for our border in Northern Ireland, following our undertaking to not reintroduce border controls.
In the evening, there was the usual Reception, also attended by the President – with Chamber Awards and a buffet, with local producers exhibiting their local food and wines.
On Saturday 16th February, we visited a local winery in Stambolovo for the ritual pruning and blessing of the vines, followed by a lunchtime buffet. Teodora Georgieva (Teddy) joined me and provided transport – so we had the chance to catch up on local events.
On the Sunday, Teddy had managed to organise a meeting with one of the teachers from the Dimitrovgrad Foreign Language School, before we had lunch with two of our friends. Although I did not meet the Haskovo ladies football team organiser, I was able to pass on the football shirt promised by Sue Foulkes during the visit of the Leicester City Ladies Football Club to Sofia last year.
On the Monday, I visited the Haskovo Foreign Language School and delivered Rita’s package to Gergana Gocheva, the Deputy Head. A similar package from Rita for the Dimitrovgrad Foreign Language School was left with Teddy to deliver when convenient. I then had a useful meeting with the Mayor, Mr Dobri Belivanov – and confirmed that he was planning to visit Leicester in April with the Chamber delegation. He then arranged for me to meet the Principal of the Haskovo Mathematical School, which I have now put in touch with Sara Goddard at the Wyggeston Queen Elizabeth College – this promises to be a fruitful link, starting with ‘pen palls’ and hopefully leading to student exchanges. I also visited the Tourist Information Office and met the new manager. I ended up visiting the Chamber offices again and made arrangement to meet Mr Yanev in Sofia on my way home. I ended the day with a free chamber music concert at the theatre, joined by Teddy, her daughter Dayna and two of our friends.
On the Tuesday, Teddy took me to Stara Zagora, where she gave me a guided tour, which was very interesting.
On the Wednesday morning, the municipality again provided a car to return me to Sofia, where I had lunch with Mr Yanev and his business partner Mrs Pakidanska, a Patent Attorney. Here we were able to discuss plans for the business delegation to Leicester in April – and these plans are now being finalised.
I returned to the airport using the Metro and returned home safely on the evening flight – the only problem being that the flight was 1½ hours late and I didn’t get home till 1 o’clock in the morning.
This was a very worthwhile visit, maintaining contacts and progressing plans for the future.
JAT – February 2019.
