site.btaBTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills Project Aims to Tell about Knowledge Exchange between Bulgaria, Balkans, EU

BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project with the support of the European Commission aims to tell about the exchange of knowledge between people in Bulgaria and the Balkans and people from the rest of the EU, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said at the opening of the final conference on the project, which was held in Varshets on Monday.

He emphasized that thanks to BTA's National Press Clubs, the whole of Bulgaria and Bulgarians in neighboring countries have become part of the joint national and European conversations on the project organized by the agency, with a total of 40 conferences taking place in 38 National Press Clubs. Valchev noted that the final conference in Varshets also includes participants of the 20th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media and pointed out that the topic there was also related to knowledge, namely Media and Knowledge. "In the last panel we noted that this prosperity goes through the beginning of systematic support for Bulgarian-speaking media outside and in Bulgaria by the entire Bulgarian society through the general budget," he stated.

Valchev stressed that BTA has opened 30 new National Press Clubs since 2021, while also preserving and developing the 14 press clubs opened in the previous 18 years. "Thanks to the teams of now two correspondents (per press club) and five correspondents in Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas, BTA's publications with news from the regions of Bulgaria increased by 63% in 2024 compared to 2023", he said, adding that their numer is over 25,000.  "In 2024, there were 1,980 press conferences and events in BTA's National Press Clubs, with press conferences increasing 2.5 times in three years, and events like this conference, organized by BTA independently or with partners, are happening 12 times more", Valchev said, adding that the cooperation with Bulgarian media around the world has also yielded visible results at BTA.

BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project with the support of the European Commission aims to tell about the exchange of knowledge between people in Bulgaria and the Balkans and people from the rest of the EU, so that people can get to know each other's contribution to the common life in the EU, Valchev pointed out. "We usually hear that Bulgaria receives money from the EU and what remains in our minds is that we Bulgarians are the ones who only benefit from our participation in the EU, but the truth is that the EU also benefits from Bulgarians, just as it benefits from other European nations", he emphasized, noting that the point of these conferences is to see the contemporary contribution. "So far, at the conferences organized in different regions of Bulgaria, we have talked about various such contributions of Bulgarians," Valchev stressed.

He made a retrospective of the meetings held on the project so far, starting with the opening conference in Veliki Preslav, due to the inclusion, thanks to Bulgaria, of the Cyrillic alphabet as the third alphabet in the EU. Valchev noted the 1170 anniversary of the Glagolitic script, which is included in the 14 Centuries of Bulgaria in Europe joint initiative by BTA, the Bulgarian National Television and the Bulgarian National Radio. "20 years after our first World Meeting of Bulgarian Media, the Bulgarian media around the world already bear an even greater responsibility, as writing in the Bulgarian alphabet means writing in one of only three EU alphabets, and creativity in Bulgarian means creativity in an EU language," Valchev pointed out.

He emphasized that the final conference in Varshets is a sign that people need to look at the Northwestern region of Bulgaria with different eyes, which is usually listed among the top two poorest regions of the EU. "Because the first person treated with mineral water in Bulgaria was in Varshets in the mid-19th century, before the Bulgarian state was restored, and the first bathhouse here was built in 1910, soon after the Liberation from Ottoman slavery", Valchev stressed, adding that the oldest Bulgarian spa resort confirms that the construction of the modern culture of recreation in special places in Bulgaria is developing simultaneously with other European countries, including the modern SPA resorts throughout Europe, which revive the ancient Greek and Roman traditions, as well as alongside the Alpine ski resorts in Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France. 

"In Varshets, we must remind that Bulgaria has the advantage of being in first place among all countries in continental Europe in terms of the number and flow rate of mineral springs, but this advantage must be used better, including by promoting it through the media", Valchev emphasized, indicating seven directions in which this promotion should be directed.

"First, (...) Bulgaria, with its more than 550 studied deposits of thermal and mineral waters with over 1,600 mineral springs with a flow rate of 4,900 liters per second, is in first place in continental Europe and in second place in Europe after Iceland in terms of resources of natural mineral and spring water of natural origin, unique composition and drinking qualities. Bulgaria has proven places with air for climate-therapeutic tourism, namely Sandanski, Tryavna and Sveti Vlas", Valchev said, adding that Bulgaria has 354 kilometers of coastline along the Black Sea with 78 developed sandbars, which allow thalassotherapy tourism. "There are also 6 lakes with healing mud and salt pans (...). News about the research of scientists in these areas can greatly help in the promotion of balneo- and climate tourism in Bulgaria", he pointed out.

Secondly, Bulgaria has a tradition of using mineral waters for health, Valchev said, noting that in Serdika (today Sofia), Pautalia (today Kyustendil), Germanea (today Sapareva Banya), Augusta Trayana (today Stara Zagora), Medicus (today Sandanski), the Thracians already used mineral waters 2000 years BC, and it is very likely that the emergence of prehistoric settlements in these places 6000 - 5000 years BC was also due to mineral waters. "Therefore, the permanent column of BTA called BG Archaeology, together with the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, may also be useful for popularizing balneological tourism in Bulgaria", Valchev said. 

Third, the state and municipalities in Bulgaria already have the will to develop health tourism, he noted, adding that proof of this is its growth, as data from the Tourism Ministry shows that one sixth of tourism in Bulgaria is health tourism.

Fourth, Valchev noted, there is a responsible business in Bulgaria that is permanently investing in balneology and spa tourism sites. There are also serious opportunities for even greater investments, because according to a study by the Varna University of Economics from 2016, only 5% of the available mineral springs in Bulgaria are tapped and used in balneology and SPA tourism, he said. 

Fifth, Bulgaria has achievements in the development of its own and the implementation of foreign technologies and equipment in the field of balneology and SPA, Valchev pointed out. News about this can also contribute to the promotion of health tourism, and therefore the contract between BTA and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences for the constant dissemination of information about Bulgarian science is also of great benefit, he said.

Sixth, Bulgaria has specialists for work in health tourism, with the country having nearly 200 multi-profile hospitals with about 30,000 doctors and 30,000 nurses. According to Eurostat, it is among the first in the European Union in terms of the number of doctors per 100,000 people, Valchev noted. "There are specialists in rehabilitation and physical therapy separately. 11 higher education institutions train medical specialists, with the first medical faculty being at Sofia University since 1917," he said, adding that emphasis on news about the achievements of people in Bulgaria who work in the field of medicine also helps to promote the country as a destination for health tourism.

Seventh, more and more people will need prevention and treatment of various diseases, Valchev said, pointing out that by 2030 the world population is expected to reach 8.6 billion people, with life expectancy increasing, and the population of the most solvent countries continuing to age. "The direct medical tourism market in the world in 2026 is expected to approach USD 50 billion according to data from the American-Indian market research company Grand View Research. According to data from pulmonologist Prof. Kosta Kostov, 7 million people in the world have the so-called long Covid, which means that some of them could potentially be cured in Bulgaria", Valchev stressed. 

"In these seven directions, more popularization of the opportunities and benefits of health tourism in Bulgaria among Bulgarians themselves and abroad is needed. Because the number of people in Bulgaria who enjoy the advantages of its nature is becoming fewer and fewer," Valchev stated, giving an example of Varshets municipality, where 70 years ago the population was more than 12,000 people, in 1992 it was still over 11,000, while in 2024 the population has halved. "According to official censuses, from nearly 9 million people in 1985, the population of Bulgaria 35 years later is 6.5 million people, which is almost 2.5 million people less", he stressed.

"Therefore, an important goal of these conferences within the framework of BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project is to make visible all the contemporary contributions to the EU of towns like Varshets, developed with the help of the EU, in order to encourage more young Bulgarians to see the point of staying and developing themselves in Bulgaria, and to encourage those who left Bulgaria to return," 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 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.