In a class on agricultural e-commerce, students from the Bulgarian Luban Workshop were listening carefully to their Chinese teacher's instruction online and never missing the opportunities to take photos of exhibited agricultural produce.

With an area of 1,600 square meters, the Bulgarian Luban Workshop building was built by the Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin Economics & Trade School and Agricultural University of Plovdiv. It opened  in October 2021.

In an interview, Svetla Yancheva, vice-president of the Agricultural University of Plovdiv, said Bulgaria, a major agricultural country in Europe, has always attached great importance to the development of agricultural technology and education. However, it lagged behind in rural e-commerce and smart agriculture.

Yancheva has visited China many times and realized that there is a great potential for cooperation between the two countries. She added that since its inauguration, the Bulgarian Luban Workshop has received warm response from local students, dozens of whom have taken part in its practical and curricular activities.

So far, the Bulgarian Luban Workshop has set up four laboratories and three training bases in the Bulgarian branch of Tianjin Food Group in a move to meet the theoretical and pragmatic demands of nurturing home-grown agricultural talents. Krum Hristov, a student from the School of Economics at Agricultural University of Plovdiv, said that the Bulgarian Luban Workshop threw light on Chinese agricultural technology, the Chinese market, the Bulgaria-based China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) demonstration base and the CEEC logistics hub of agricultural products.

Christine, another student at Agricultural University of Plovdiv, said that the workshop has allowed trainees to master necessary techniques in relation to quality inspection of agricultural products, building of rural e-commerce platforms, market-oriented agricultural production and management, which are helpful for their future employment.

The workshop has enrolled nine Chinese students and is planning to open courses featuring the European Union in a drive to help students from China learn more about its market operation rules in the economic bloc.