Bulgaria's participation in the prestigious international exhibition of food, beverages and food raw materials Prodexpo Moscow 2012 got off to a disastrous start over delayed payments.

Due to the late money transfer, the Bulgarian pavilion was assembled hastily and with materials that happened to be on hand, the Bulgarian National Radio reported on Tuesday.

"The manner in which Bulgaria is taking part in this international trade show is humiliating both for our country and for the producers who seek to set foot on the Russian market," representatives of the 14 Bulgarian companies said with indignation.

According to Liliya Gyurova, who heads a winery, the organizer of Bulgaria's participation in the 19th edition of the exhibition, the Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency (BSMEPA), failed to send a representative to Moscow, and, more importantly, to transfer the money for the two pavilions on time.

As a result, the two stands had not been ready for the opening of Prodexpo 2012 and had been assembled at the last minute with poor-quality second-hand windows, Gyrova explained.

"What is more, the props with the unripe sour grapes are absolutely off-putting to visitors," she told BNR.

"Something along the chain obviously went wrong. There is a poor connection between Bulgaria and the Russian Expocentr, without any coordination so that things can be fixed. Regarding the props, I do not know who is in charge of that, but it is simply wrong to waste money and have nothing done for it. Whoever sees this will never think of drinking wine made from these unripe grapes but will rather be reminded of wine gone sour.

The Bulgarian participants made bitter jokes that the country would be the unrivalled champion in a potential competition for a badly arranged pavilion.