site.btaBTA Opens Press Club in Bucharest

On Friday, BTA opened a press club in Bucharest, which became the first Bulgarian media outlet with a press club of its own in Romania. An exhibition and a gala concert were also staged to mark the event.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Bulgarian Ambassador in Bucharest, Radko Vlaykov, and the Romanian Ambassador in Sofia, Brandusa Ioana Predescu, as well as by AGERPRES Director General Claudia-Victoria Nicolae, among others.

BTA Director General Kiril Valchev said on Friday that BTA was opening its 25th national press club, which is the fourth one abroad after Bosilegrad (Serbia), Skopje (Macedonia), and Taraclia (Moldova). The club in Taraclia was opened on Friday morning in the presence of Bulgarian President Rumen Radev. "BTA is planning to have press clubs in all of Bulgaria's neighbouring countries," Valchev said.

"We are opening this press club on a symbolic day. About five months ago, the Romanian Orthodox Church canonized Theodora of Wallachia [wife of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander], who became a nun under the name of Theophano. Her story is linked to numerous donations, including to the rock monasteries near Ruse, but she is an epitome of the great link, the common religion of Bulgarians and Romanians," said Valchev.

Theodora was canonized as St Teofana Basarab by the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church on February 17, 2022. Her feast day is October 28. 

"We went together through the trials of the two world wars in the 20th century and the trials of communism. There were also happy moments, such as exactly 30 years ago, when we signed the Friendship Treaty. We also entered the EU and NATO together," Valchev said, referring to some of the historic events shared by Romania and Bulgaria.

Stressing the active cooperation between the two countries' news agencies, Valchev recalled that they were together at the formal registration of the Association of the Balkan News Agencies - Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE) in Bulgaria a month ago.

Valchev said BTA was posting to Bucharest Martina Gancheva, its second correspondent in a neighbouring country after Skopje.

AGERPRES Director General Nicolae stressed the importance of cooperation between the two agencies and recalled the agreement signed nearly a year ago under which BTA and AGERPRES exchange a news item every day. In this way, BTA runs news of value for Romania's image and its presentation abroad, whereas AGERPRES brings the most important news about Bulgaria's culture and economy, Nicolae specified. 

Bulgaria's Ambassador in Bucharest Radko Vlaykov pointed out that the cooperation agreement between BTA and AGERPRES is a crucial step towards addressing the long-standing problem with the lack of sufficient information on the two countries and peoples. Vlaykov expressed the hope that in the near future AGERPRES, too, will open a press club of its own in Sofia and will post its correspondent there.

"BTA is one of the institutions in this part of the world that have been literally shaping the media landscape for more than a century," said Andrei Tarnea, General Director for Communication and Public Diplomacy at Romania's Foreign Ministry. He acknowledged BTA's role in covering developments in the Mediterranean, in the Balkans, in the Middle East and in Africa. In his words, cooperation between the two news agencies and the opening of this press club will shape the future of the media in both countries.