On the 20^th of July in the cultural and language centre "Camoes Sofia" with an official ceremony, followed by an elegant cocktail, the academic 2015/2016 ended. This happened in the presence of H.E. Mr. Luis Ferraz,

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Portuguese Republic in the Republic of Bulgaria, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Rumen Alexandrov, Mr. Francisco Nazareth - head of "Camoes Sofia" and lecturer in Portuguese language and culture in Sofia and the University of VelikoTarnovo, as well as many other guests.

The culmination of the celebration was certainly the awarding of the Portuguese title "Honorary Knight of the Order of Merit" to the Ambassador Krassimir Kostov, director of the "Bilateral European Cooperation" at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was awarded with a Decree by the President of the Portuguese Republic for significant contribution to the development of the bilateral relations between Bulgaria and Portugal and to the strengthening of the friendship between the two nations. The order was awarded by H.E. Mr. Luis Ferraz, who in his greeting emphasized the merits of Ambassador Kostov for the bilateral visits at high and highest level implemented last year, and for the establishment of the Bulgarian-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce. From his side, Ambassador Kostov thanked for the high award and told the story of his great affection for Portugal, its language, literature, culture and music as this emotionally affected the beginning of his diplomatic career in the Bulgarian Embassy in Lisbon.

On the ceremony, awards were given to students studying Portuguese language in Bulgaria in the cultural and linguistic centre "Camoes Sofia" who took part in the annual competition for translation, essays and visual arts. The grand prize - a trip to Portugal provided by ELFY TOURS, was won by Zornitsa Stancheva from the University of Plovdiv "Paisii Hilendarski" /for translation/. It was handed to her personally by the Deputy Foreign Minister - Rumen Alexandrov.

At the end of the evening the Portuguese musician Flavio Torres greeted the guests with his performance.

Photos: "Diplomatic spectrum"

1. From left to right: Deputy Foreign Minister Rumen Alexandrov, Ambassador Krassimir Kostov, H.E. Mr. Luis Ferraz, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Portuguese Republic to the Republic of Bulgaria, Ms. Zornitsa Stoykova of "Camoes Sofia" and Mr. Francisco Nazareth, head of "Sofia Camoes"

2, 3 and 4. The awards of the annual competition for students of Portuguese language in Bulgaria cultural and linguistic centre "Camoes Sofia"

5. The Portuguese musician Flavio Torres

6, 7 and 8. The event