site.btaUPDATED BTA Director General: BTA's National Press Clubs Are Place for Bulgarians to Participate in Talks about Bulgaria, EU

Opening BTA's press club here on Sunday, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said that the Agency's national press clubs are a place where Bulgarians get heard and participate in the talks about Bulgaria and the EU. The new press club is the Bulgarian News Agency's 33rd with a correspondent office in Bulgaria and the 43rd if counting BTA's permanent press clubs abroad and the three temporary ones. 

All three temporary press clubs are connected to May 11, the Day of St Cyril and St Methodius, because one of these press club is on board Bulgaria’s naval research ship Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii, the second press club is at the Bulgarian Antarctic base named after St Kliment Ohridski, and the third one is active during book fairs, with the Bulgarian letters created by St Cyril and St Methodius’ disciples. In the last four years, BTA has tripled its national press clubs and has preserved and developed the 14 press clubs unveiled in the last 18 years, Valchev noted. 

The new press club was blessed by Metropolitan Seraphim of Nevrokop on the day of Gotse Delchev's church, the Day of St Cyril and St Methodius.

Gotse Delchev is the only non-regional town in Bulgaria which today is the centre of a diocese of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church with the historical name of the Diocese of Nevrokop, the BTA Director General went on to say. Last year, it celebrated 130 years since its foundation, Valchev recalled. 
 
According to him, the Agency's press clubs are a home for questions, where Bulgarian citizens answer every day the burning questions about their future. 

Part of the possible answer to the current debate on citizens' participation in decision-making is that this should not happen only in elections and referenda over the years, but constantly, Valchev said. 

All Bulgarians should be heard first and foremost through the news about their lives and their positions, which are relayed by the BTA correspondents, as Gotsze Delchev already has a correspondent, Elena Rouskova. With the National Press Club and a correspondent office here, BTA will provide the four municipalities in Blagoevgrad Region (Gotse Delchev, Garmen, Hadzhidimovo, and Satovcha) with systematic information that can be used by all Bulgarian media, said the Director General. 

In his words, BTA's national press clubs also provide an opportunity for people from places where this has not always been the case, to participate in conversations about Bulgaria and the EU. The Bulgarian News Agency, in partnership with national and European institutions and organisations, regularly holds conferences, trainings, presentations and other events, including through the joint involvement of all press clubs. "For example, we will do it in a week's time by including the Gotse Delchev press club online in the presentation of the issue of BTA's LIK magazine dedicated to Bulgaria at the World Expos, which will be on May 18, the Day of Bulgaria at EXPO 2025 in Osaka, Japan, in front of Japanese students enrolled in Bulgarian studies, in direct connection with all BTA press clubs. By the way, the event in Osaka will be covered by the Agency's top reporter, Ivan Lazarov, born in Gotse Delchev, who is also at the opening of the national press club here today [Sunday]," Valchev said. 

"BTA works for all media and, therefore, it is a recognition for all colleagues in the Agency that today's opening of the national press club in Gotse Delchev is attended by representatives of our common Union of Bulgarian National Electronic Media (UBNEM)," Valchev noted. He listed the Director General of the Bulgarian National Radio, Milen Mitev, Anton Andonov, member of the Board of Bulgarian National Television (BNT), as well as the host of BNT's Panorama Boyko Vassilev and the chief producer of BNT's morning show, Albena Kolchakova, the Chief Operating Officer of bTV, Gospodin Yovchev, and the chief news producer of Nova TV, Marta Evtimova. "On this day, we are united by much more than just UBNEM, because today we celebrate the letters in which Bulgarian media write," said the BTA Director General. 

He expressed his gratitude to Mayor of Gotse Delchev Vladimir Moskov and his deputies, Municipal Council Chairman Ivan Gerov and all the municipal councillors who unanimously supported the provision free of charge of the premises for the BTA National Press Club in a historic building opposite the museum in the town centre. 

"At the signing of the contract for the premises on March 10, I noted several arguments for the need for the BTA to have a permanent presence in Gotse Delchev," Valchev recalled and listed geographical, demographic, economic and historical arguments.