Bulgaria Participated in an International Cultural Festival in Doha on the Occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Global Network for Public Diplomacy
In the period 7-8 November this year an international cultural festival marking 10 years of the Global Public Diplomacy Network (GPDNet) was held in Doha, State of Qatar. Bulgaria, which is a full member of GPDNet since 2021 through the active participation of the State Institute for Culture under the Minister of Foreign Affairs, joined the event with a rich cultural program.
Cultural figures and diplomats from the embassies of 29 member states, including Bulgaria, participated in the opening of the festival. Ambassador Plamen Delev gave an interview to Qatari television, in which he presented the Bulgarian participation in the cultural festival and emphasised the role of Qatar as a host country in promoting the goals of GPDNet for the development of international cultural dialogue.
As part of the program, a philatelic exhibition was presented, in which our country participated with a unique collection of Bulgarian postage stamps, provided with the assistance of the State Institute for Culture and the National Academy of Arts. The collection, part of the archive of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, includes stamps issued in the period 1958-2023, which show the diversity of the Bulgarian flora, characteristic national agricultural symbols, as well as themes related to environmental protection.
The collective photography exhibition, organised jointly with UNESCO, presented various aspects of the cultural heritage of GPDNet member countries. Bulgaria participated with photography from the mobile exhibition of the State Institute for Culture "Fragrances from Bulgaria", which reveals the delicate beauty of the lavender and rose fields in Bulgaria, captured by the lenses of Krasimir Matarov and Ruslan Asanov.
Bulgaria was also represented in the film program of the festival with a screening of journalist Zhivko Konstantinov's documentary "Antarctica" from 2020. The film reflects life in and around the Bulgarian base on Livingstone Island. The world-renowned Bulgarian musicians Theodosii Spasov and Hari Tsviatkov also take part in it. In a year and a half since its creation, the film has won more than ten awards from international film festivals around the world.
The festival offered a range of initiatives, concerts and craft workshops showcasing the rich cultural heritage of the countries in the network. This participation is another step in Bulgaria's endeavor to promote cultural exchange and present its national wealth and culture on the world stage.