The Fourth World Meeting of Bulgarian Media will be opened officially by President Georgi Purvanov in the presence of Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon and other official representatives of Spanish and Bulgarian elite on May 19, 2008, and will continue until May 22, 2008.

This year, in addition to matters concerning Bulgarian media around the world, the media forum will also focus on Bulgarian-Spanish cooperation in the field of media, culture, tourism, economy and politics.

By tradition, the participants in the meeting will be Bulgarian media from all over the world, state institutions, as well as representatives of Bulgarian and Spanish business. In addition to President Georgi Purvanov, who will open the forum, other representatives of state institutions who are expected to attend include Deputy Prime Minister Ivailo Kalfin, State Administration Minister Nikolai Vassilev and former prime minister and leader of the Simeon II National Movement Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Some 30 Bulgarian media from all over the world are expected, including such that have not participated in these forums so far. Media from the Vatican, USA, Australia, France, Switzerland, Serbia, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, among others, will attend the meeting. This year's participants include the Bulgarski Novini, which is published in Greece. Our colleagues will celebrate their 10th anniversary during the meeting in Madrid.

The Nova Douma newspaper is the main partner this year, as well as Spain's news agency EFE.
This year special stress will be laid on a nationally significant cause - the promotion and presentation of Bulgarian history, culture and language. To this end, there are plans for the premiere of a book, a pre-premiere presentation of an exhibition of posters, a photo-exhibition, a screening of a Bulgarian film and a concert.

Short History of Bulgaria by Nikolai Ovcharov for the first time in Spanish

So far, the book Short History of Bulgaria has been published in English, German and French. BTA and Letera publishing house will release it in Spanish specially for the Fourth World Meeting of Bulgarian Media. The author of the book, Prof. Nikolai Ovcharov, will take part in the meeting of Bulgarian media in Madrid and will present his book there. In addition to the participants in the forum and the Bulgarian institutions and community in Spain, the book will also be distributed among Spanish state institutions.

Bulgaria's Letters: Europe's New Alphabet - Exhibition

The exhibition is a poster action of the International Triennial of the Stage Poster in which noted artists from different countries and continents participate. It consists of 30 posters denoting the letters of the Bulgarian alphabet. Each artist is the author of one poster-letter. All posters are quadrichromatic, with 70 x 100 cm format. For the first time the exhibition will be presented before an audience especially for the Fourth World Meeting of Bulgarian Media in Madrid. In Bulgaria, the exhibition will be unveiled on May 24, 2008.

Spanish premiere of Dressmakers

The bearer of five awards of the Bulgarian Annual Film Awards 2007 the film Dressmakers will be shown for the first time to the Bulgarian community in Spain. The screening during the Fourth World Meeting will be the first outside Bulgaria. The director of the film, Lyudmil Todorov, will attend the forum and the audience will have the opportunity to meet him.

Multimedia photo-exhibition of Nov Zhivot newspaper

The subject of this event is 50 years Kurdjali region from the pages of Nov Zhivot newspaper and includes more than 2,000 photos from the establishment of the media to date. Archival black-and-white shots from 50 years ago and more recent digital images reflect the important historical events for the region and Bulgaria recorded by the newspaper's photo reporters. The exhibition features important events like the construction of the dams in the region and the 'Big Excursion' in the spring of 1989. The exhibition was presented for the first time at the annual meeting of the Bulgarian Media Coalition in 2007. Its first presentation out of Bulgaria will be at the Fourth World Meeting of Bulgarian Media in Madrid.

The Fourth World Meeting of Bulgarian Media is organized with the support of MTel, general sponsor of the event, as well as Roca Bulgaria; Municipal Bank, Plovdiv Fair; Hisar from Spring No. 7; Elen Hunting; Mini Marica Iztok; Maritza East TPP; Vinprom Peshtera; Dinevi Group; Kozloduy N-Plant; Glavbolgarstroy; Sofiyska Voda; KCM SA, Vagonremont.