On October 8 and 9, 2021, the VIII International Academic Conference of the Confucius Institute was held. The forum was opened by the Rector of St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tаrnovo and Chairman of the Board of Advisors of the Confucius Institute – Prof. Hristo Bondzholov, PhD. Greetings to the participants were sent by He Dong Xiaojun, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Bulgaria; Mr. Ventsislav Spirdonov, the Chairman of the Veliko Tarnovo Municipal Council; Assoc. Prof. Antonia Tsankova, PhD, Head of the Department of Chinese Studies at Sofia University and Mr. Neyko Genchev, municipal councilor of Veliko Tarnovo and owner of Faber Publishing House. Congratulatory addresses were presented by Daniel Panov, PhD, the Mayor of Veliko Tarnovo Municipality and Dr. Darin Dimitrov, Mayor of Targovishte Municipality.
The event was also honored by Mr. Rosen Ivanov, Deputy Chairman of the General Assembly of Veliko Tarnovo; Mrs. Raya Mateva, Deputy Mayor of Targovishte Municipality; Mrs. Olga Yalamova from Sofia, Mr. Dimitar Alexiev from Targovishte and Mrs. Diana Kostadinova from Sliven, who are the principals of schools with Chinese language in these cities. The forum was attended by 36 scholars and researchers from Bulgaria and China, who touched on current economic and geopolitical issues, as well as topics from history, culture, education, and art. The conference was attended by a limited number of guests, in compliance with all anti-epidemic measures.