BTA News

Over 300 Projects Presented during 36 Conferences as Part of Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future Project, BTA Director Kiril Valchev Says

This is the closing conference of the Bulgarian News Agency’s Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future Project, implemented in partnership with the European Commission, through which over 300 projects for the cohesion of Bulgaria, as an EU Member, with all its neighbours were presented during 36 conferences, including six cross-border and 22 local ones, said BTA Director General Kiril Valchev here on Saturday at the Project’s closing conference in the Albena resort, which celebrates its 55th anniversary on August 24.

“The most important message from our talks is that all these projects are aimed not just at absorbing money, but at what should be most valuable for our European civilization – the human being,” Valchev stressed. This also corresponds with the idea of the new joint initiative of BTA, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) and Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), titled 14 Centuries Bulgaria in Europe, for the celebration of significant anniversaries in Bulgarian history, which are of significance for European history in general, in the coming years until 2032, when the 1400th anniversary of the establishment of the first Bulgarian state formation on European territory – Old Great Bulgaria in 632 AD – will be celebrated, Valchev said. The project events will use the renewed and expanded network of 40 BTA national press clubs across Bulgaria, in neighbouring countries in the Balkans and in regions with Bulgarian presence abroad. This is an opportunity for Bulgarians everywhere in the country, including in smaller towns, as well as Bulgarian communities around the world to join the common European conversation, Valchev said.

The BTA Director General said that the Agency has so far implemented three European projects and is involved in four others which are in the process of implementation. “In conclusion, I would like to underscore that all BTA’s efforts for better knowledge among the Balkan neighbours are part of Bulgaria’s policy, which dedicated its first EU Council Presidency in 2018 to the enlargement of the EU on the Western Balkans, Valchev said.