site.btaOpening of National Press Club in Montana Is of Particular Importance, as BTA Now Has Press Clubs in Every Regional City in Bulgaria, Says BTA Director General

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) opened a National Press Club in the northwestern town of Montana on Monday. It is the 40th press club in Bulgaria and abroad and the last to open in a regional capital. 

BTA Director General Kiril Valchev emphasized that the opening of the National Press Club in Montana is of particular importance, because with it the news agency now has a press club in every regional city in the country. He defined the press club as the home of journalism in Montana and also noted that the opening took place on the feast of the city of the Holy Spirit. "This Divine spirit is in each of us, because according to the book of Genesis of the Bible, it is said that when creating man, God breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul", noted Valchev. 

In his words, this reminds us of three important things, with which we can also connect the opening of the National Press Club of BTA in the city, which. First, the media owes equal life in the news to all people in Bulgaria, because everyone brings equal breath for life. "This is the reason why we must also transmit the news from cities like Montana, so that their residents feel part of the Bulgarian community", Valchev said. He added that with the opening of the press club, Montana is included in the "Europe in the Balkans: Common Future" conferences, which BTA organizes with the support of the European Commission. 

According to Kiril Valchev, the second reminder of the meaning of the Christian holiday is that Bulgarians share a common spirit. "This common spirit makes Bulgarians a community, wherever we are in the world. Therefore, one of the important tasks of BTA is to provide news from Bulgarians everywhere in Bulgaria and beyond its borders and to maintain the connections between the Bulgarian-language media in the country and outside it," Valchev pointed out, adding that BTA organizes world meetings of the Bulgarian media every year, with the opening of the 19th meeting held in Odessa. 

The third reminder of the feast of the Holy Spirit is that journalism is one of the manifestations of the spirit for the common good, and therefore we must use the word wisely and invest in it true knowledge. He quoted the words of Saint Paul the Apostle in his first letter to the Corinthians, saying that "everyone is given the Spirit to be manifested in him for the common good". 

In his opening speech, Valchev also emphasized that the network of correspondents and national press clubs of BTA, distributed in Bulgaria and among Bulgarians outside its borders, ensures an equal life in the news, connectivity of the Bulgarian community and true knowledge. He expressed his gratitude to Montana Municipality and personally to Mayor Zlatko Zhivkov, who provided the premises with the consent of Bulgarian Post. "In three years, we managed to increase the number of national press clubs three and a half times, building on the 11 press clubs in regional centres that were built over almost 18 years ago by the previous Director General Maxim Minchev", said Valchev. He noted that specifically in Montana BTA has had correspondents for about half a century.

Valchev also reminded that BTA has four more press clubs in large cities that are not regional centres - Kazanlak, Samokov, Svishtov and Petrich. "In the foreseeable future, we are also planning press clubs in Troyan, Gotse Delchev, Panagyurishte", he added. BTA also opened press clubs in the capitals of three of Bulgaria's neighbouring countries (in Skopje, Bucharest and Ankara), with the establishment of press clubs in Belgrade and Athens pending, noted Valchev. The agency also has press clubs in regions abroad with large Bulgarian communities, namely Bosilegrad in Serbia, Taraclia in Moldova and Odesa in Ukraine, as well as a national BTA press clubs in the Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island and on the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii.