The President of the Republic of Macedonia, Dr. Gjorge Ivanov, within the working visit to Bulgaria, visited the Cultural and Information Center of Macedonia in Sofia, which celebrates this year the 10th anniversary of its establishment.

At the meeting with the Director of the Centre, Vasko Shutarov, the functioning and the activities of the Centre were discussed. President Ivanov congratulated on the previous work of the Centre, which is a real representative of the Macedonian culture in Bulgaria.

Shutarov, considers the visit of President Ivanov to the Macedonian temple of culture here in Bulgaria as an encouragement of the cultural diplomacy and support of its 10-year existence and operation in Sofia, which is already recognizable at the cultural scene in the Bulgarian capital and throughout Bulgaria.

In the past ten years, Shutarov said, the CIC realized over 350 cultural events, 600 cultural workers were guests, and provided support or acted as partner in that many projects. This year, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Shutarov said, there is an extremely rich jubilee program with performances of Macedonian opera top singers, artists and extremely important writers.

"Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture and the encouragement for translation of Macedonian authors in foreign languages seven agreements have already been signed for translation of Macedonian authors in Bulgarian, some of which have already been issued. The "Star Root"by academician Ante Popovski, who will celebrate 85 years since his birth next year, was just published", Shutarov said.

The CIC, thanks to its 10-year existence and rich program, already has numerous audience that can meet the chambers, but also spaces that gather thousands of visitors, Shutarov said. This year, a breakthrough was achieved in the cultural offer in many other cities in Bulgaria and especially singled out Plovdiv, which is the European Capital of Culture for 2019.

Shutarov announced that by the end of the year CIC will host three exhibitions, two music events, and at the end of the year, it will be presented at the Book Fair in Sofia.

On October 22, the premises of the CIC will host an exhibition of the academic painter Kole Manev titled "Anxiety – Calmness". Moreover, during the visit, the Director of CIC Shutarov gave President Ivanov a framed poster dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the functioning of the CIC.

With the visit of the CIC of the Republic of Macedonia in Sofia, President Ivanov finished his working visit to Bulgaria.