site.btaBTA's 6th Europe in the Balkans Cross-Border Conference to Be Held in Belgrade, Vidin

The sixth cross-border conference of the project "Europe in the Balkans: a Common Future", implemented by the Bulgarian News Agency, will be held Friday in Belgrade and Vidin. The forum is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Serbian time, 11:30 a.m. Bulgarian time, and will be broadcast live on the BTA website. 

The conference will be opened by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev. Participants include Plamena Halacheva - Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Ivaylo Kashkanov, advisor at the Bulgarian Embassy in Belgrade, Kristina Askovic of Serbia's Ministry of European Integration, Zoran Markovic - a representative of the Regional Chamber of Commerce of Nisava, Pirot and Toplica Administrative Districts,  Predrag Stamenkovic representative of the state utility company "Mediana" - Nis, Desislava Todorova - Deputy Mayor of Vidin Municipality, Tsvetelin Todorov - a senior expert at Kula Municipality in charge of planning, development and management of European programmes, Tihomir Alexiev - Tourism Consultant in Belogradchik Municipality, Mariela Savkova - Head of Regional Information Centre - Vidin, Ralitsa Slavcheva from Vidin Community Centres Fund Association and Sabrina Kalachova from Europe Direct Vidin.

The BTA project "Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future" is supported by the European Commission. It aims to foster a better understanding of the role of cohesion policy in the Balkans; to raise awareness of projects funded by the EU through the Cohesion Funds; promote dialogue on the results of the projects at local level and boost civic participation in issues related to cohesion policy. 

The project is funded with EUR 348,871. To achieve the project's aims, BTA is using a media mix and expects to reach out to between 700,000 and 1 million people in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece and Turkiye. 

The series of conferences under the project was launched on December 20, 2023 in Sofia. The programme until August 2024 envisages BTA-hosted discussions in the cities of Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kazanlak, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Samokov, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, Yambol, Kardzhali and Haskovo, as well as cross-border conferences in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest, Edirne, Skopje and Thessaloniki.