Kiril Yordanov, former Mayor of Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Varna, has been appointed Chair of the Association of Bulgarians Abroad after the resignation of Prof. Alexander Chirkov from the post.

Yordanov, long-standing Mayor of Varna, who resigned in March amid mass protests of locals, was backed by half of the delegates at the Second Grand Assembly of the Association, according to reports of Standard daily.

Yordanov was elected Honorary Chair of the Association in 2008 during his term in office as Varna Mayor.

Varna was then declared capital of Bulgarians abroad.

Yordanov vowed to step up work with Bulgarian institutions to further the Bulgarian cause.

The Association will insist on the establishment of a state fund with public support for opening Bulgarian schools abroad in cases when the Bulgarian Embassies have already provided sites.

The delegates also elected 25 members of the Management Board, who are representatives of the biggest Bulgarian diaspora communities across the world.

A decision was taken that the members of the Association would pay annual membership contributions of EUR 5.