Varna Municipality approved the gratuitous acquisition of 29% of the assets of International Fair Plovdiv which were previously owned by the state. A resolution of the Bulgarian government transferred the ownership to the Black Sea city of Varna. 20% of the state-owned assets were transferred to Plovdiv Municipality, but the municipal councilors of that city refused to acquire those assets, saying that they would agree to acquire 49% of the shares of the emblematic fair. Bulgarian businessman Georgi Gergov is the majority shareholder of the company. The International Fair Plovdiv was founded in 1892 when in August the same year the first Bulgarian agricultural and industrial exhibition was held in Plovdiv. It aimed at stimulating the weak Bulgarian industry and agriculture and at establishing contacts between local and foreign producers. Today the International Fair Plovdiv is among the biggest of its kind in Eastern Europe. It covers an area of 352,000 square meters and consists of 17 multifunctional pavilions.