H. E. Mrs. Latifa Benazza, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria to the Republic of Bulgaria,

was part of the jury for the Queen Rose Competition which took place on May 14, 2021, at the launch of the 118^th Rose Festival in Kazanlak, a Bulgarian town twinned with the Algerian town of Blida since 2017.

To form the jury, the Municipality of Kazanlak invited four ambassadors from countries chosen among those having signed a twinning agreement between Kazanlak and a town of the respective country. The jury was composed of H. E. Mr. Hiroshi Narahira, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of Bulgaria (President of the Jury), and the members: H. E. Mrs. Latifa Benazza, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria to the Republic of Bulgaria, Mr. Gilles Courregelongue, First Secretary at the Embassy of France, and Ms. Nadezhda Vorobieva, Protocol Attaché at the Embassy of Russia.

In her speech at the opening ceremony of the competition, Galina Stoyanova, Mayor of Kazanlak, stressed the fact that, against the background of the pandemic, this 118^th edition of the Rose Festival is "a bearer of hope and the joy of living".

The jury was unanimous in its choice of Miss Alexandra Hadzhihristova to hold the title of Queen Rose, as well as in the choice of the two runners-up. Queen Rose was elected among 17 young girls, 12^th-year graders from different schools from the town. The president and the members of the jury addressed the audience that included Gergana Mikova, Governor of the Region of Stara Zagora, linked by a Memorandum of Cooperation, to the Wilaya of Blida (Algeria), dignitaries of the town, and Metropolitan Cyprian of Stara Zagora.

In an informal tête-à-tête, the Ambassador and the Mayor of Kazanlak agreed to resume joint efforts in order to fructify the twinning agreement between Blida and Kazanlak through the implementation of cooperation projects in the field of economy and culture.

The material was provided by the Embassy of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria to the Republic of Bulgaria.