East Midlands Chamber of Commerce visit to Haskovo
EAST MIDLANDS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VISIT TO HASKOVO
By John Townsend
In the first week of September, John Townsend, Deputy Chair of CLETA, in his role as Deputy President of the East Midlands Chamber of Commerce, visited the twinned city of Haskovo.
In addition to a number of meetings held with the representatives of several business concerns in Haskovo, on Friday the 8th September he was able to be present during the formal ‘Haskovo Day’ of celebrations, held each year around this time.
The day started with a brief church service, followed by a formal raising of the Bulgarian flag by the army outside the town hall.
This was followed by a ceremony, where new Honorary Citizens are announced. This year, Dr Delcho Karavasilev, the father of neurosurgery in Haskovo, was the only recipient. In previous years, several Leicester personalities have received this honour including two previous Lord Mayors of Leicester – Councillor Michael Johnson and Councillor Mary Draycott. The day ended with a pop concert in the Haskovo open air amphitheatre followed by a firework display.
Honorary citizen of Haskavo
During his visit, John was able to visit several places of interest including a visit to the town of Kazanlak, the centre of the Rose Oil industry, in the Valley of the Roses. John was then shown the exhibition rose garden, Damascena, in the village of Skobelevo – an amazing landscaped garden with water features and containing literally thousands of roses, some planted around an amphitheater.
Exhibition rose garden
Also of great interest was when he visited the factory of Himmash JSC, a manufacturer of pressure vessels for the petrol and gas industries, and met Atanas Ibrishimov, another long-term friend. On a guided tour of his factory it was interesting to note that, since the Russian ‘Special Military Exercise’ in Ukraine, he has benefited from orders direct from clients, rather than working through Russian Agents. His factory produced the famous statue of the Virgin Mary that overlooks the city – and the original model still stands in his factory
Original model of the famous statue of the Virgin Mary
Following a very successful visit, John has submitted a report of his meetings with the various business organisations in Haskovo to the Chamber of Commerce. Hopefully, his work there will help to create good standing links with our twinned city.
