On November 21^st, 2017, the Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United States Tihomir Stoitchev met with the Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu. They agreed to initiate a procedure of establishing a sister city relationship between the city of Burgas and the city of New Orleans. The ports of the two cities have a great potential for increasing the bilateral trade between Bulgaria and the United States.

New Orleans will host a business mission of the trade representatives and agricultural attachés at the Embassies of the EU Member States in Washington D.C., which will be organized by the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2018.

Ambassador Stoytchev was a key note speaker at a meeting of the diplomatic consular corps and also met with the Bulgarian community in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, where he presented the Honorary Consul of the Republic of Bulgaria to the State of Louisiana David Korn.