site.btaFormer BTA Director General Maxim Minchev’s Third Death Anniversary Marked Nov. 15

Wednesday marks the third death anniversary of former BTA Director General Maxim Minchev (1953-2020), who passed away on November 15, 2020 after being diagnosed with COVID-19 and suffering a short illness. 

Minchev was born on June 5, 1953 in Sofia. In 1976 he graduated in journalism at the Lviv University in Ukraine and in 1986 in pedagogy at the G.S. Rakovsky Military Academy. Between 1993 and 1996 he was a fellow at NATO's Headquarters in Brussels.

During his over 40-year long career he was correspondent and editor of various newspapers and radio programmes. Minchev was among the founders of the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria in 1991 and served on its Board of Directors and as press director until 2003.

Since 2003 until his death he was Director General of the Bulgarian News Agency.

During his tenure at the agency he launched a network of 13 press clubs, with two of them located in Bosilegrad (Serbia) and Taraclia (Moldova).

Minchev also initiated 15 world meetings of Bulgarian media around the world.

In 2015, he became a recipient of the Golden Age Award of the Culture Ministry on the occasion of National Awakeners' Day.

The Board of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), which includes BTA, has named posthumously its quality agency journalism after Maxim Minchev, who is described by EANA as “ a great friend and valued member of the EANA community”. 

The idea to build press clubs of BTA in all main geographical spots of Bulgaria belongs to Minchev. The goal was to have a place with contemporary information technology where businesses, power holders and organizations would have equal access to a forum and the media, to information.

Since then, the BTA National Press Club in Sofia has established itself as the preferred venue for news conferences of Bulgarian businesses, political, nongovernmental and branch organizations, state institutions and foreign representations, renown individuals from the fields of sport, culture and science from Bulgaria and abroad.