IABCH with a focus on Bulgarians in the Baltic countries in 2026

The Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad (IABCH), is sending off a difficult but successful year. There are more than 1,000 Bulgarian organizations around the world the Agency is continuing and deepening cooperation with. Moreover, the IABCH team prepared and carried out many initiatives, meetings and visits important to Bulgarians abroad – and each one of them is regarded as a mark of attention on the part of the Bulgarian authorities. In 2025 the first visits to the Scandinavian counties took place:

“In previous years Sweden, Norway and Denmark were not on the Agency’s radar at all. One of the reasons is that they are countries where, in practice, there are no emigrants of earlier generations,” explains Rayna Mandzhukova, Executive Director of the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad in an extensive interview for Radio Bulgaria. The only organization was in Malmö in Sweden and it recently celebrated its 40^th anniversary – the Holy Mother of God church community.”

“In Norway the Bulgarian community only started to form in the 21^st century. They have no traditions from previous organizations and are much more difficult to reach and establish contact with. That is why we set ourselves the task of establishing contact with the Bulgarians in this part of Northern Europe. At the end of 2024 we were able to go to Sweden and Denmark and in 20225 – to Finland and Norway where we found young, interesting people and organizations who want to stay close-knot and we want to help them.”

7,735 is the number of Bulgarians who have chosen to live in Norway, Bulgarian Foreign Ministry data show.  As it turns out there is quite a large community there, that is why since 2025 they have had their honorary consul, pianist Kiril Kutin.

The Agency has set itself the task of establishing contact with the Bulgarians in the Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia:

“The only organization, as far as we know, is in Latvia (the Cyril and Methodius Bulgarian cultural association – editorial note). In Lithuania and Estonia there are communities we have been following on social media and we can see they are in contact with one another but they do not have any organizations, or at least we are not aware of any such organizations. So far we have been unable to get to Poland even though there are two Bulgarian schools there and the children from them have been taking part in Agency competitions for children. So that is something we are going to keep in mind in 2026.”

In 2024, Rayna Mandzhukova announced the establishment of an information portal “103 steps to success” for collecting data about all Bulgarians abroad who have studied at universities in Bulgaria under resolution No. 103 of the Council of Ministers or other, previous resolutions by the cabinets in 1992, 1991 and 1990. At this time, it is in the form of a questionnaire.

“It is our goal now to help it reach as many people as possible. But it shouldn’t be forgotten it has been 30 years since then. The first students who came here were myself and another 8 young people way back in 1989. Then I remember the first arrival of two buses with Bulgarians from abroad in 1990, organized by the Rodolubets association. Many of them are still here, they stayed in Bulgaria. So, that is a long time and I would be overly optimistic if I hoped that we can reach all of these people – but we turned to representatives of the universities where such people study to assist us through their own networks, different clubs and contacts.”

Last year, a library information centre was set up as part of the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad and it quickly turned into a popular venue for our compatriots around the world to meet, a place where new Bulgarian associations take their first steps. One of them is the Association of Bulgarian Cultural Organizations Abroad, with Vesela Raychinova elected as its chairperson. The events organized with the support and the participation of Agency staff last year included the first festival of Bulgarian folklore groups abroad held in Veliko Tarnovo, the 4^th seminar of the Association of Folklore Groups Abroad in Sofia, https://bnrnews.bg/en/post/387521/new-funding-proposal-discussed-at-meeting-of-bulgarian-folklore-ensembles-abroad with the screening of the documentary “The magic of Bulgarian horo” https://bnrnews.bg/en/post/394480/the-magic-of-bulgarian-horo-to-be-screened-in-munich-on-7-december by journalist Milena Milotinova, shot during two major Bulgarian events abroad in 2025 – “Feast of letters” at “Il mondo in casa” in Milan, Italy https://bnrnews.bg/en/post/107537/bulgarians-from-milan-present-their-homeland-for-the-first-time-at-il-mondo-in-casa-festival and “In the village square of the other Bulgaria” in Lyon, France.

The Agency’s plans for this year include organizing another seminar with the participation of Bulgarian organizations around the world to discuss issues important to Bulgarians abroad. Meetings of this kind are extremely useful for both sides as the first such forum held in Budapest shows – on models of establishment, management and communication of different associations of Bulgarians abroad:

“We organized it after Easter – on 26 and 27 April, 2025 with the help of the Bulgarian republican self-governance with the idea of presenting different models of Bulgarian organizations in the world. 30 people travelled from different countries to attend during these two days.”

In 2026 the meeting will be on a different subject, and the host city and the participants will be different too, says Rayna Mandzhukova. As we have always done, during the new year, Radio Bulgaria will continue to cover all major events and initiatives of the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, as well as the problems and successes in the life of the Bulgarian communities around the world.

Translated by Milena Daynova