On March 3, 2020, the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria gave a reception on the occasion of the country’s National Day, held at the Kempinski Summerland Hotel in Beirut.

Representatives of the Lebanese Presidency, the Council of Ministers, the Parliament, employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, offices of international organizations and the diplomatic corps in Lebanon, the Association of Bulgarian Graduates in Lebanon, as well as Bulgarian citizens residing in Lebanon, took part in the event (Ghada Sherim, Minister of Displaced Persons, as representative of President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab; Fadi Alame, MP, representing the Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berry; Abir Ali, Director of Protocol, as representative of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Nasif Hitti; General Imad Damashkie of the General Directorate of General Security, and others).

In his address to the guests Ambassador Boyan Belev Spoke of the history of the National Day as well as the importance of the cooperation between Bulgaria and Lebanon. Bulgarian music was performed by various artists: Emil Dimitrov’s song ‘My country, my Bulgaria’ and the folk song ‘You are beautiful, my forest’ by Sophie Zane (string instrument ‘qanun’), Pancho Vladiguerov’s ‘The lullaby’ and ‘The song’ by Olga Balun (piano), as well as Dobri Hristov’s song ‘The Lukovit Girls’ by Ghada Ghanem (soprano). A short film about Bulgaria was shown and later at the background of popular Bulgarian songs photos of Bulgarian landscapes were projected.