site.btaBTA Launches New Service on Environment and New Media Partnership

Sofia, October 14 (BTA) - The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is launching a new service, BTA Green, dedicated solely to environment, Director General Kiril Valchev told a news conference here Thursday. He made the announcement on the day of the 5-year anniversary of the ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement by Bulgaria. The new service, to be available both in Bulgarian and in English, will be accessible for all media organizations, citizens and institutions for free.
BTA, which usually provides subscription-based news to its users, already has a free services for COVID-related news, STOP COVID-19, as well as information in the fields of education, culture and science.
The new free news service is a sign of what one of the new priorities of BTA will be, said Valchev.
From March 2022, BTA will open its entire output for free access, excluding the copyrighted products.
Valchev said that BTA relies much on its new partnership with the news website dir.bg and media owner LIMAAS. They have a solid presence in the Bulgarian news media landscape and BTA will use their entire potential on the topic of the green transition.
LIMAAS CEO Galina Alexandrova said that this long-term partnership with BTA will help raise the awareness of people, businesses and news media in Bulgaria.
She said that the Free Transition project of the European Commission is very important on a global scale and Europe in general, and Bulgaria in particular. Her impression is that awareness about it is low, and that was confirmed in an opinion poll held by the Trend Agency and commissioned by dir.bg and LIMAAS' 3e-news. The poll showed another two important things: that over 60 per cent of Bulgarians support the green policies of the EU and that over 71 per cent don't have enough information about the Green Deal and the details of the green policies.
In Bulgaria, the first of an awareness-raising eventrs is a forum in Sofia with top-level officials, including EC Vice President Frans Timmermans, who is in charge of the Green Deal, Prime Minister Stefan Yanev, Deputy Prime Minister Atans Pekanov and EU Commissioner Maria Gabriel.
Another reason to bring to the fore the issue of the greek transition is that it will allow access to considerable resources, Alexandrova said. These resources will allow Bulgaria to transform its economy in the next 10-20 years and transition to a more hi-tech, more energy-efficient and competitive industry, she added.
Kiril Valchev said that BTA and LIMAAS want to set a model of cooperation "between two media organizations that provide reliable information to the benefit of all". DD/LN/