The Mayor of Ruse Municipality, Pencho Milkov, today welcomed representatives of the Chinese Embassy in Bulgaria and the Chinese Confucius Institute at Veliko Tarnovo University. They are on a three-day visit to Ruse.

The meeting was attended by the cultural adviser to the embassy Guan Xing, the head of educational affairs Yang Tian, the attaché for cultural affairs Dai Ying, as well as the director of the institute in Veliko Tarnovo Prof. Dong Yuensing.

Ruse's hosting of the 2025 World Dragon Boat Championships and the embassy's Dragon Boat Festival this summer were discussed.

"The idea to popularize dragon boats in Bulgaria came from you," remarked Guan Sin. He added that the festival is the biggest sports and cultural event that the embassy has organized in the country so far. It will be held on June 24 and 25 at the lake in Pancharevo and includes a rich cultural and musical program, production and sale of food, handicrafts and photo exhibitions from China. The first container with dragon boats, donated by manufacturers in China, is already on Bulgarian soil.

Mayor Pencho Milkov emphasized that this sport provides a great opportunity for people of different ages and different levels of training to work in a team. He also noted the strength of the Ruse rowers.

"It will be valuable to our city if any of the dragon boats remain with us after the festival. This will ignite the interest of Rusyns in the upcoming world championship, which we are hosting in 2025," said Pencho Milkov.

Various opportunities for cooperation were explored and an invitation was extended for Chinese representatives to participate in this year's tourism expo and annual Weekend Tourism Festival.

On Tuesday, guests attended the opening of an exhibition of photos from China and the presentation of new books from the "See China" series in the Revenue Building. Their program also includes visits to the Confucius classroom at Vasil Levski University and the hall of the same name at the Angel Kanchev University of Ruse, a meeting with the Kalagia Wushu Sports Club, visits to museums, the Regional Library and other sights in the city and the region.