Mayors of municipalities in southern Bulgaria with populations between 5,000 and 10,000 traveled to the Indonesian capital Jakarta in early December for a working visit. This information was published on the website of the Regional Association of Municipalities (RAM) “Thrace,” whose members are the participants in the delegation.
From the publication on the RAO Trakia website and the accompanying photos, we learn that the delegation that visited the country, famous for the exotic tourist island of Bali, included not one but three representatives of the Ivaylovgrad municipal administration. In addition to Mayor Diyana Ovcharova, her deputy Krassyu Delivanov and technical secretary Rosimira Shishmanova also traveled to Indonesia.
Again, according to information from the Association of Municipalities, the delegation was led by the mayor of Sliven, Stefan Radev, who is also chairman of the Management Board of RAO Trakia. It included 11 representatives of local authorities from Bulgarian municipalities with a population of between 5,000 and 10,000 inhabitants. During the visit, the mayors of small municipalities familiarized themselves with the management model and economic policies of one of the largest countries in the world—Indonesia, with a population of over 300 million people.
The visit was at the invitation of the Bulgarian Embassy in Indonesia and took place from November 29 to December 8 this year. To date, the local administration in Ivaylovgrad has not published any information about the visit.
According to data as of December 31 last year, published on the website of the National Statistical Institute, the population of the municipality of Ivaylovgrad is only 4,904 people.
According to official information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a key highlight of the visit was the meeting at the House of Regional Representatives of the Indonesian Parliament. The Bulgarian mayors discussed opportunities for cooperation in the areas of public services, waste management, and the development of public-private partnerships.
“Indonesia has the enormous potential of 17,000 islands and a population of 300 million, including 86 large municipalities and 363 regions that can build partnerships with similar Bulgarian structures, ‘sister cities/sister regions’,” reads the announcement of the visit on the website of RAO Trakia.
During the visit, the delegation held talks with the Association of Indonesian Municipalities (APEKSI), the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), the Infrastructure Guarantee Fund (IIGF) under the Ministry of Finance, and the regional authorities of Bali. Topics included personnel transfers, investment promotion, and opportunities for joint projects in the green economy and tourism.
