Varna is an extremely attractive destination with the combination of culture and beautiful nature and that is why I am sure that more and more tourists from our town will come here. This was stated by Sue Yanan, Deputy Mayor of the Chinese city of Ningbo, and head of a delegation who met with Varna Mayor Ivan Portnih on Saturday.

Representatives of the municipal administration, the municipal council, the management of the Higher School of Management and VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" were present at the talks.

The Ningbo guests were experts from the fields of culture, health, education, as well as the director of the Chinese Cultural Center in Sofia.

The Ningbo delegation, with whom Varna has been twin cities for 15 years, arrived in the sea capital immediately after the summit of D16 + 1F in Sofia. Topics of the talks were the opportunities for developing cooperation in the fields of culture, education, health and tourism.

There could be a branch of the Chinese Cultural Center in Varna, which started work in November 2017 in Sofia. This suggestion addressed Mayor Ivan Portnih to Mrs. Sue Yanan. "Ningbo municipality is involved in the management of the cultural center, we talked about such an idea, and it really is a real opportunity if we provide the necessary space in Varna, we are thinking of direct cooperation in this area," said Mrs. Sue Yanan. The Mayor, on his part, said that the Municipality of Varna is ready to fully cooperate in realizing this initiative.

During the talks, Mayor Ivan Portnih made a proposal for organizing joint cultural events. "The oldest processed gold in the world - from the Chalcolithic Necropolis in Varna, is kept at the Regional History Museum in our town, and we would be glad to present it to the Ningbo citizens as well as be hosts of various exhibitions presenting ancient Chinese applied arts ", he said. The mayor also invited Ningbo representatives to participate at the International Folklore Festival in Varna.

During the meeting, it became clear that there is an increasing interest in contacts and exchange of students between higher education institutions in both cities. At Varna Free University, Ningbo youths are now being trained in a Master's program. The Higher School of Management announced that they awarded 10 scholarships for 1000 euros for the first year of Chinese students.

The Ningbo Administration annually grants special scholarships to students from Central and Eastern Europe, each worth 30,000 yuan. Deputy Mayor Sue Yanan invited students from Varna who study Chinese to visit Ningbo during the holidays to practice the language. During the talks, the participants in the meeting united on the idea that the opportunities for developing contacts in all spheres of public life between Varna and Ningbo are very large and are of mutual interest.