Targovishte has been preserving and developing the traditions of European trading centres for centuries, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said during a local conference held here on Wednesday. The event was part of BTA’s Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project.
Valchev pointed out that the opening of the 246th traditional spring fair in Targovishte is a proof of this, adding that it is a tradition that is associated with the restored fairs that existed in Antiquity and in Western Europe in the Middle Ages. "That is why BTA is signing an agreement today with the Targovishte Municipality for a partnership for the town's cultural calendar, including the established remarkable market fair in May," Valchev noted.
He emphasized that Targovishte been a place of trade for millennia, beginning from the Stone Age and used afterwards by the Thracians, the Romans, the first and second Bulgarian kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire. Valchev also noted that Eski Dzhumaya, as Targovishte was known, has always been a town of various crafts, hence why in 1934 the town was renamed to Targovishte, from the Bulgarian root of the word for trade - targ.
"The conversation about the unifying power of knowledge, which we have at these conferences, is quite natural in Targovishte. The fair is more than an exchange of goods, it is a place for communication and exchange of knowledge", Valchev said, adding that nowadays the largest part of municipal money is invested in education. "Because for centuries, innovations have been coming to Targovishte from different parts of Europe and the Middle East, as the fair is the place where innovations are shown for the first time," Valchev pointed out.
He emphasized that contact with European culture and the thirst for knowledge marked the beginning of active educational activity and that a monastic school was opened in Targovishte as early as the 18th century. As Petko R. Slaveykov was teaching in that school, it is still called Slaveykov's School. Valchev noted that the town's population quite naturally became part of the National Liberation Movement at the end of the 19th century. "Free Bulgaria allows the commercial centre, which has accepted its fate as its name, to flourish thanks to its people", he said, stressing that these days they are becoming fewer and fewer.
In 1985, the population of Targovishte exceeded 46,000 people, Valchev recalled, while at the end of 2024, it was under 33,000 people. He pointed out that an important goal of these conversations is to make visible all the contemporary contributions to the European Union of towns like Targovishte, developed with the help of the EU, in order to encourage more young Bulgarians to see the point of staying and developing themselves in Targovishte, as well as continuing the centuries-old tradition of one of the trade centres in Eastern Europe. He also mentioned the industrial park in Targovishte which is being developed. "Because only the people of Targovishte can preserve and develop their city and make sense of its motto: "I was, I am, I will be," Valchev said.
He recalled that Targovishte is part of the general national and European conversations organized by BTA thanks to the opening of the agency's National Press Club in 2022. "Thanks to the team of now two correspondents, the number of publications about Targovishte increased from 426 in 2023 to 830 in 2024", he emphasized, adding that BTA has tripled its National Press Clubs since 2020 and continues to preserve the 14 Press Clubs opened in the 18 years prior. "Thanks to BTA's National Press Clubs, more Bulgarians from all these places in Bulgaria and abroad are part of the common national and European conversations," Valchev concluded.
BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project aims to raise public awareness and foster open dialogue about cohesion policy, local achievements, and the implementation of the EU's policy priorities. The project kicked off with a conference in Veliki Preslav in November 2024. The schedule of conferences until the end of September 2025 includes events in the following cities: Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kazanlak, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Razgrad, Ruse, Samokov, Svishtov, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Troyan, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, and Yambol. Cross-border conferences will be held in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest, Edirne, Skopje, and Thessaloniki. The project builds on the Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future and Europe in Bulgaria: A Common Future projects, implemented by BTA in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
