Bulgaria marks National Day today

Chisinau, 3 March /MOLDPRES/- Bulgaria, a state in Southeast Europe, the Balkan Peninsula, today marks the 137th anniversary of its liberation from the Ottoman joke.

According to electronic sources, the National Day of Bulgaria is marked in all cities of the country by a string of ceremonies. Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, as well as other officials participate in solemn events on this occasion. Bulgaria’s Patriarch Neofit held a liturgy at the Aleksandr Nevski Cathedral in Sofia. The date of 3 March is the day of signing Peace Treaty of San Stefano in 1878. In 1396-1878, Bulgaria was part of Ottoman Empire. After the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, Bulgaria regained independence.

According to the 2011 census, Bulgaria has 7,364,570 inhabitants, down from a maximal figure of about nine million residents, recorded in 1989.

The current political structure dates back from the adoption of a democratic constitution in 1991. After becoming a free country, Bulgaria has been a parliamentary republic, with a high level of political, administrative and economic centralization. It is a member of European Union, NATO and Council of Europe, founder member of OSCE and was part of the UN Security Council three times.

With an area of 110,994 km2, Bulgaria is the 14th largest country in Europe. The country's position turned it into a historic crossroad of different civilizations, a place with the oldest evidence of metal processing in the world. Bulgaria exports mineral raw materials, industrial equipment, tobacco, fruits, vegetables and non-ferrous metals. The country imports machines and industrial equipment, transport means, oil products, metals and rolled goods. It has foreign trade with Russia, Germany, Macedonia, Italy, Greece etc.

Moldova established diplomatic relations with Bulgaria on 5 February 1992. Bulgaria opened a diplomatic mission in Chisinau in December 1992. The Moldovan Embassy in Sofia was opened in February 1994. Moldovan Ambassador to Bulgaria is Alexandru Prigorschi (starting from 2010), and Bulgarian Ambassador to Moldova – Petar Vilov (since 2014).

Data put out by the National Statistics Bureau shows that, in January-November 2014, the Moldovan-Bulgarian trade exchanges stood at 110.7 million dollars, up by five per cent against the same period of 2013. In the first 11 months of 2014, the import of goods was estimated at 75.8 million dollars, down by 0.3 per cent against the same period of 2013. The export amounted to 34.9 million dollars, up by 18.7 per cent. A number of 169 Moldovan-Bulgarian joint ventures are registered in Moldova.

(Reporter N. Roibu, editor M. Jantovan)