On April 10th, the president Georgi Parvanov attended the opening of the Seventh congress of the Union of officers and sergeants of the reserve in the Military club in Sofia.

At 11:15 AM the president met cosmonauts, who are visiting Bulgaria for the 30th anniversary of the first flight of a Bulgarian into space and the 40th anniversary of the Space research institute of the Bulgarian academy of sciences. The celebrations are under the patronage of the president. The cosmonauts Georgi Ivanov, Alexander Alexandrov, Krasimir Stoyanov, Valerii Riumin, Elena Kondakova, Anatolii Soloviov, Bertalan Farkas and Dimitru Pronariu attended the meeting. At 12:00 AM, the President gave the high-rank medals to several deserving Bulgarians.

Prof. Andey Pantev and Boris Tsvetkov received the order “Stara planina”.

The general-major Stoyan Tonev received the order “Stara planina” – first degree.

The actress Elena Stefanova and prof. dr. Liubomir Ivanov received the order “St. Kiril and Metodii” – first degree.