Investing in knowledge today means children of tomorrow will grow up prepared and able to lead the community, said Kyustendil Mayor Ognyan Atanasov during a local conference as part of BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project. The conference took place at the BTA National Press Club here on Thursday.
He recalled a quote by Bulgarian actor of Serbian origin Djoko Rosic, who has said that it is not borders that are important, but people. "When we talk about knowledge, we are talking about people, because a person must have access to adequate education in order to know who he is and where he is going", Atanasov pointed out, stressing that the town is over 2,000 years old, while the settlement has over 8,000 years of history. He pointed out that even during Ottoman slavery Bulgaria's ancestors have always strived to be educated and develop Bulgaria.
Atanasov noted that at his suggestion, Kyustendil Municipal Council declared August 15 an official holiday in Kyustendil, inviting more municipalities to follow this example, as he emphasised that this should be a spiritual holiday for the entire country. “I think we are going in the right direction and I am convinced that one day it will become an official spiritual holiday as it should be,” he said.
Atanasov added that renovations of two schools in the town have recently been completed, and the building of the Language High School is currently being renovated, as is the school in the village of Razhavitsa. He pointed out that Kyustendil is one of the first municipalities that has started the implementation of construction and installation activities under the programme for energy renovation of Bulgarian homes, financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
Kyustendil Municipality also works in sync with neighboring municipalities from the Republic of North Macedonia and Serbia, he emphasised. "We have quite a few projects. One is extremely important for the emblematic place in the Forest Park Hisarlaka, which combines a lot of history and mysticism as a place and, of course, healing pine air," Atanasov stated, adding that the Municipality has a ready-made project for cross-border cooperation for the Ezerata eco-park with the Republic of North Macedonia as well.
According to Atanasov, work is being done effectively on many projects with European funding, but those under cross-border cooperation programmes are also important because they bring peoples from the three sides of the border closer together. "I dare to say that at the municipal level, the mayors from the three sides of the border maintain very good contact, we cooperate, and I have always appealed to the authorities at the national level from the three sides of the border to take an example from the municipalities," Atanasov stressed.
BTA's Europe on Balkans: Cohesion Skills project aims to raise public awareness and foster open dialogue about cohesion policy, local achievements, and the implementation of the EU's policy priorities. The project kicked off with a conference in Veliki Preslav in November 2024. The schedule of conferences until the end of September 2025 includes events in the following cities: Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kazanlak, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Razgrad, Ruse, Samokov, Svishtov, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora, Troyan, Targovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, and Yambol. Cross-border conferences will be held in Belgrade, Bosilegrad, Bucharest, Edirne, Skopje, and Thessaloniki. The project builds on the Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future and Europe in Bulgaria: A Common Future projects, implemented by BTA in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
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