Rosen Zhelyazkov, the Bulgarian Prime Minister, is currently in the United States leading the country's delegation to the 80th session of the UN General Assembly. He will be a special guest at a reception for the Bulgarian community organised by the Consulate General of Bulgaria in New York to celebrate the holiday.

The day was also celebrated by the close-knit Bulgarian community in South Africa. On Sunday, pupils from the Slancho Bulgarian school performed in a special programme. The school gives children of Bulgarians living 12,000 kilometres from home the chance to learn the language and experience the culture of their homeland. There are more than 4,000 Bulgarians living in South Africa.

In Brazil, the start of the new school year at the Bulgarian school in São Paulo on 21 September was also dedicated to Bulgarian Independence Day. 'We would like to thank all the Bulgarians from the Bulgarian community in Brazil and the Bessarabian Bulgarians who filled the hall. Above all, we would like to thank our acting ambassador, Ms Evgenia Ivanova, for greeting every Bulgarian and Bessarabian Bulgarian in person and for her kind words on the opening of the school year and Independence Day,” wrote Mihail Krastanov, founder of the only Bulgarian school in South America, on social media.