site.btaNational News Agencies of Bulgaria, Senegal Start First News Exchange

The national news agencies of Bulgaria and Senegal started for the first time an exchange of news under a cooperation agreement between the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) and the Senegalese Press Agency (APS), which was signed by the Directors General of BTA Kiril Valchev and APS Thierno Ahmadou Sy. This happened in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), during the second edition of the Global Media Congress under the theme "Shaping the Future of the Media Industry", which according to the organizers from around the world has more than 13,500 participants, 5,500 delegates and 200 CEOs from international media organizations.

The agreement stipulates that each side will receive the other's full set of English-language news feeds, and both sides have the right to use this information in their news features.

According to the agreement, each of the two agencies will offer the other a daily briefing on a significant news story from its country, with English text and a photograph, which the other agency will publish on its distribution channels for free reading by all visitors to the respective sites, provided the source is explicitly mentioned.

The agreement also provides for the possibility of exchanges of experience and professional visits by journalists and other media professionals from both news agencies.

Senegal's press agency was created in 1959. In 2012, the Bulgarian government approved a draft treaty of friendship and cooperation between Bulgaria and Senegal. In  December of 2022, the Days of Bulgarian Culture were held in Dakar for the first time.

Since 2021, when the National Assembly approved granting free access to the national news agency's news, BTA has signed 35 similar cooperation agreements, which provide all Bulgarian media with a free opportunity to use news - in addition to global agencies from which BTA buys information - from the national news agencies of Azerbaijan, Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Cyprus, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Ghana, Greece, Israel, India, Iran, Italy, Montenegro, Kosovo, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Moldova, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, the Philippines, North Macedonia, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Montenegro, Turkiye, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

The Directors General of the national news agencies of Bulgaria and Senegal are participating in the second edition of the Global Media Congress in Abu Dhabi at the invitation of the national news agency of the United Arab Emirates, WAM.