On September 7, H.E. Ms. Ana Maria Sampaio Fernandes, Ambassador of the Federative Republic of Brazil to the Republic of Bulgaria, and Ms. Maria Cristina Rodriguez Salaberi gave a reception at the embassy on the occasion of the national holiday of the country.

On that date, in 1822, its independence from Portugal was announced.

The garden of the embassy was crowded with guests, including ambassadors, diplomats, officials and friends. In her greeting speech, Ms. Ana Maria Sampaio Fernandes noted that Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, with a coastline of more than 7,000 km and a population of over 200 million people. Despite the serious recession in the last two years, Brazil was still the 9th largest economy of the planet in 2016.

The Ambassador said: "Our democratic constitutional system has proved to be resilient and efficient in the face of recent political crisis, our institutions continue to be fully committed to their mission. The government of President Temer is engaged in pursuing the necessary reforms to ensure sustainable development."

Her Excellency pointed out that the friendly relations between Bulgaria and Brazil have benefited from the visit last year to Brazil of the then president Rosen Plevneliev, accompanied by a large official and business delegation. A welfare agreement was signed on the occasion, which will allow Bulgarians living and working in Brazil and Brazilians living and working in Bulgaria to have their labor records recognized by both countries for the sake of retirement benefits

 At the end she said that the embassy of Brazil in Sofia is engaged in cultural initiatives to increase awareness of Brazilian culture among Bulgarians. The Ambassador highlighted two events, which will soon take place in Sofia.These are the second edition of the Brazilian Cinema Week that will take place during the "Week of Brazilian Culture" /October 30 – 5 November/ and the autumn's inaugural concert of the "New Symphony Orchestra", on October 16, where will feature the "Bachianas # 4", a masterpiece of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.

Photos: Embassy of the Federative Republic of Brazil and Diplomatic Spectrum Magazine.

Above: H. E. Ms. Ana Maria Sampaio Fernandes, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federative Republic of Brazil to the Republic of Bulgaria, congratulates her guests.

Below:

Row one: The reception in the garden of the embassy; H. E. Ms. Latifa Benazza, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Algerian Democratic and People's Republic and H. E. Ms. Ana Maria Sampaio Fernandes; H. E. Ms. Sri Astari Rasjid, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia, H. E. Ms. Vanessa Yvonne Calvert, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of South Africa, H. E. Ms. Orietta Caponi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; H. E. Mr. Radomir Bogdanovic, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bosnia and Herzegovina, H. E. Ms. Ljerka Alajbeg, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Croatia, H. E. Mr. Vladimir Curgus, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Serbia, H.E. Mr. Marjan Gjorchev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Macedonia.

Row two: H. E. Mr. Stefano Baldi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic, H. E. Mr. Stavros Avgoustides, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cyprus; Ms. Maria Cristina Rodriguez Salaberi with guests,  Mr. Lyubomir Mihaylov, a journalist in the Standard Newspaper, Ms. Ekaterina Pavlova, chief editor of the Diplomatic Spectrum and Ms. Aneta Penny, publisher. Classical music accompanied the reception.