Култура

Natalia Shmakova, Deputy Mayor of the Belarusian town of Malodechno, visited on 7 and 8 April in Velingrad. Malodechno and Velingrad are among the 35 twin cities from Bulgaria and Belarus. Last week in Burgas was held the second meeting of the Association of twinned cities from the two countries, and a day later was signed the twinning of Sofia and the Belarusian capital Minsk. The benefit of this type of cooperation is evidenced by the fact that in 2 years the trade balance between the two countries has improved 2 times and it is exactly along the line of twin cities.
The interim mayor of Velingrad Atanas Vodev and Natalia Shmakova signed a program for joint activities, which was presented at a press conference at the Agency for Regional Development. Mr. Vodev outlined several main directions of cooperation: contacts between the companies from the two regions; creating links between educational structures; supporting joint initiatives of NGOs; joint sports events.
The most important part of cooperation will be cultural exchange. Malodechno is the cultural capital of Belarus, here is the unique Palace of Culture, which hosts a huge number of national and international cultural events. It is already a fact that the invitation made by Mrs. Shmakova, a Velingrad amateur ensemble to participate in the big international festival in Malodechno on 11 and 12 June this year. For its part, the municipality of Velingrad invited a Belarusian ensemble to be a guest of our city during this year's Festival of Culture.
Natalia Shmakova's story about Malodeczno was extremely interesting, as it is a city with a long history - it has existed since the 14th century, it has been within Poland for a long time, many ethnic and religious communities coexist in it. Malodechno is one of the cleanest and greenest cities of Belarus, with each municipality being responsible for cleanliness and public works in a certain "square" and imposing heavy fines if necessary. The city has a population of 100,000 and an area of 28 sq.km. The metalworking and woodworking industry was developed, and the pride of the local industry was the metal construction plant that built Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The city is a busy railway-knot, unemployment is about 20%, and wages are between 100 and 300 euros at prices significantly lower than ours. Every third resident is up to 30 years old and therefore the name of the town is Malodechno. Proud for the residents are the numerous cultural institutions and especially the Palace of Culture, which is the second largest in Belarus, cost nearly 10 million euros and was built with funds from the presidency, the state and the municipality. A recipe that turns out to be inapplicable to our conditions, Mr. Vodev commented and pointed out that the fate of the Velingrad Cultural House will be decided in June this year because many changes have occurred, for which, however, the municipality has not been officially notified.
There is nothing to share, our common work is to build, and in Belarus we perceive with the best feelings everything related to Bulgaria and Velingrad, Ms. Shmakova summarized.
Elena Baeva