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The Honey Festival in Kozloduy celebrated an anniversary – its fifth edition. For this reason the celebration lasted two days – 15 and 16 February 2013. The event is a joint initiative of State Enterprise Radioactive Waste and the local beekeepers associations. Its goal is to demonstrate that the presence of radioactive waste management facilities in the region does not interfere with the production of high-quality honey. This year the festival received the support of the non-governmental organisation “Women in nuclear” and some young volunteers from the municipal United Children Complex – Kozloduy.

The celebration was opened by the Executive Director of SERAW, Mr Dilyan Petrov. In his address he shared the symbolic story of finding wild bees honey of excellent quality during the preparation of Radiana site for the forthcoming construction of a national disposal facility. “With this festival we give the beekeepers from the region an opportunity to show their production. Its scope gets wider each year and manufacturers of various ecological products joint us this year”, Mr Petrov said.

Among the guests of the official opening of Honey Festival 2013 were Mr Vladimir Uruchev, MEP; Mr Rumen Manoev, Mayor of Kozloduy Municipality; Mrs Maya Zaneva, Chairperson of the Municipal Council of Kozloduy Municipality; Mr Kalin Stanukov, Chief Administrative Secretary of Kozloduy NPP, village mayors, and members of the Municipal Council. Mrs Maria Gabriel, MEP, who defends the Bulgarian beekeepers interests in the European Parliament, addressed the festival in a special video-message: „…We had a wonderful event at the end of last year – we managed to organize a conference in the European Parliament, dedicated to the honey production. The conference was accompanied by an exhibition of Bulgarian honey products. I would like to use this opportunity and to congratulate the beekeepers from Kozloduy. They were my guests at the European Parliament and presented Bulgaria in a remarkable way. We presented the variety of our beekeeping and the high quality Bulgarian honey.”

“This tradition is of great importance. The beekeepers and the manufacturers of beekeeping products are very interesting people, very intelligent and warm people. My impressions from the last year festival were unforgettable, the same, as I believe, my impressions from this year festival will be. Last year, together with Maria Gabriel we undertook several commitments and I can confidently say that the things started to happen”, said Vladimir Uruchev for his part.

Mr Rumen Manoev presented the viewpoint of Kozloduy Municipality: “I am happy that SERAW takes position, participates and supports the beekeeping and the beekeepers, and gives them an opportunity to present their unique health and beauty products. I wish SERAW the same persistence and consistency in the implementation of their important projects in order to protect and maintain the local people’s occupation, and the environment saved for the coming generations.”

Ten manufacturers of honey and beekeeping products participated in the Honey Festival 2013. Beekeepers from Plovdiv and Rodopi supported their colleagues with a representative stall. The accompanying program was provided by the diary and wine producers, two publishing houses and two stalls for applied art work which gave the youngest visitors an opportunity to create “a bee from a spoon” with their own hands.

About one thousand people from Kozloduy and visitors attended the exhibition during the two-day festival.

Upon its closing, all participants received a Contribution Certificate on behalf of SERAW, and WIN Association awarded special prizes for the taste quality of the honey produced by the various producers.

Many words of gratitude for the organisation of this event were said by the participants in their final statements. The Chairman of the beekeepers association in Kozloduy, Mr Tzvetan Yovov described the Fifth Festival as “a unique experience”. “There is no more pleasant ambiance than that in Kozloduy. No other towns provide us such conditions and the mood is excellent”, said Maria Ivanova, a beekeeper from the village of Selanovtsi. I, personally, have never participated in more inspiring and more positive honey festival before. I want to thank to the organisers, the participants and all the citizens of Kozloduy”, summarized his impressions Volodia Petrov from “Eniovche” printing house.

Photo Gallery of the event