The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria Georg Georgiev opened the first Bulgarian university in Taraclia, Moldova, dariknews.bg reported.
The first Bulgarian diplomat is in the city for the Day of the Holy Brothers Cyril and Methodius, of the Bulgarian Alphabet, Education and Culture and of Slavic Literature.
It was on the brightest holiday that Minister Georgiev began his two-day working visit to Moldova from the city of Taraclia, where, together with his Moldovan colleague Mihai Popshoi, he took part in the official ceremony of opening the branch of the University of Ruse “Angel Kanchev“ in the city, laid flowers at the memorial plaque to the creators of Bulgarian writing and attended the celebrations on the occasion of the holiday.
In his greeting to the Bulgarian community, Georg Georgiev emphasized that this is a historic day for Taraclia and for the Bulgarian community in the Republic of Moldova, since with the opening of the branch of the Ruse University “Angel Kanchev“ in the city, the doors of the first Bulgarian higher education institution outside Bulgaria are opened, which will provide access to an increasing number of young people to quality higher education in accordance with European standards. He expressed confidence that the new Bulgarian university in Taraclia will also contribute to strengthening the role of the city. Taraclia as a cultural and spiritual center of Bulgarian identity in the Republic of Moldova.
“I am convinced that today, united by the power of Bulgarian spirituality and on the basis of traditional Bulgarian values and shared universal and European virtues, we can together build the common future of our two countries in an environment of security, prosperity, solidarity and unity in our diversity“, Minister Georgiev also emphasized.
“All of you who carry the Bulgarian language, traditions and culture deep within you and have been passing them on to future generations for centuries, know that in the face of the branch of the University of Ruse in Taraclia, the Bulgarian state and our Moldovan friends you have institutions that stand firmly behind everything that you stand for”, he concluded his greeting.
In 2024 The Moldovan authorities agreed to the transformation of the Taraclia State University "Grigoriy Tsamblak" into a branch (division) of the Ruse University "Angel Kanchev", which was successfully registered under the current Moldovan law on April 2, 2025 and became a vivid testimony to the fact that the European integration of the Republic of Moldova is a strong favorable factor not only for the bilateral political dialogue, but also for the establishment of optimal conditions for the realization of the ethnocultural rights of the Bulgarian national minority, especially in the educational sphere.
The branch of the University of Ruse in the Taraklia is the first independent Bulgarian higher education institution outside the borders of our country in the history of Bulgarian higher education.
In Taraklia, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister also met with representatives of the local administration and the mayors of settlements in the Taraklia region with a predominantly Bulgarian population, with whom he discussed key aspects of cooperation with Bulgaria and support from the Bulgarian side for the implementation of socially significant projects with high added value for the Bulgarian national minority.
The city of Taraklia is the administrative center of the region, uniting the largest number of settlements - a total of 26 with a compact Bulgarian population. In most of the 24 villages and the two cities of Taraklia and Tvarditsa, which includes the Taraklia region, Bulgarians are over 50% percent of the total number of residents of the respective settlement. Of the total population of the Taraclia region, 66.1% is of Bulgarian ethnicity.