The Agency for Bulgarians Abroad is developing a new program designed to boost the connections with the large Bulgarian communities abroad.

This was announced Tuesday by the Agency head, Rayna Mandzhukova, who said the program would be directed mostly at the Bulgarian immigrant communities in Spain and the USA (Chicago in particular), and the historic Bulgarian minorities in Moldova and the Ukraine.

Madzhukova said the program, which will be submitted for approval to Bulgaria’s Diaspora Minister, Bozhidar Dimitrov, was going to focus on education. In her words, out of 164 000 Bulgarian immigrants in Spain, 23 000 were children of school age.

“We want to foster the public view that the Bulgarians in Bulgaria and those abroad are one the same thing. Bulgaria has very diverse communities abroad. Everybody who left the country had some reason for that. Bulgaria must guarantee that those children have a connection with the fatherland,” Mandzhukova said.

She also said that the Agency for Bulgarians Abroad was going to realize a project aimed at helping talented Bulgarians kids from the communities abroad in cooperation with the Foundation of top Bulgarian football player Dimitar Berbartov.

Another aspect of the new program of the Agency is going to be directed at Bulgarian university students – both Bulgarian students who study in foreign universities, and students from the Bulgarian historic communities in countries such as Moldova, Ukraine, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, who study at Bulgarian institutions.

Mandzhukova, who is herself a native of the historic Bulgarian community in Ukraine, said that there were about 50 000 applicants seeking to receive Bulgarian citizenship. She said every Bulgarian had the right to have a Bulgarian passport, and that it was up to each one individually whether they were going to live in Bulgaria or not.

“There are people who need a Bulgarian passport for self-confidence. My parents are among them,” Mandzhukova said.