site.btaVice President Opens Documentary Exhibition on 105th Anniversary of National Union of Worker Producers' Cooperatives

Vice President Iliana Iotova opened Friday a documentary exhibition dedicated to the 105th anniversary of the National Union of Worker Producers' Cooperatives in Bulgaria in the building of the Archives State Agency. The exhibition is held under the patronage of the Vice President. "For years it was considered that the cooperative movement and cooperatives have been rejected. I am glad that they have their renaissance not only in Bulgaria, but also in Europe," Iotova said.

The cooperatives have showed their vitality, especially after the severe economic and financial crisis in 2008, from which Bulgaria has not yet recovered, the Vice President said. 

In Iotova’s words, Bulgaria experiences the formation of centers around big cities, while in the smaller ones the situation is getting worse. "In a country where there are such poverty thresholds, you are the people who are trying to bring the balance back. You are the people who are trying to redress these inequalities," Iotova added.

The Union of Handicraft and Production Cooperatives was formed 105 years ago by 12 cooperatives, said Vladislav Lazarov, the Chairman of the Worker Producers’ Cooperatives of Sofia. Over the years of its development, the Union has changed its name several times, but retained its essence - to be a national association of worker producers’ cooperatives, worker producers’ cooperatives of people with disabilities, cooperative unions and other cooperative organizations on the basis of well-established international principles and shared values, Lazarov added.