The Cross-Border Cooperation Programme INTERREG “Greece-Bulgaria” participated in the 5th cross-border conference of the project “Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future”, implemented by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), which was held on Tuesday 16/4/2024 simultaneously in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki and the Bulgarian southwestern town of Blagoevgrad.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

The 5th cross-border conference of the project “Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future”, implemented by the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), was held on Tuesday 16/4/2024. The forum was held simultaneously in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki and the Bulgarian southwestern town of Blagoevgrad.

The conference was opened by BTA Director General Kiril Valchev. The President of Greece’s national news agency ANA-MPA, Emilios Perdikaris, the Consul General of Bulgaria in Thessaloniki, Anton Markov, and the head of the Managing Authority “Interreg 2021-2027”, Maria Nezeriti, also addressed the forum. Among the participants were “The Smile of the Child” Northern Greece Project Coordinator Ioanna Makri, Theodoros Papadopoulos, President of the Thessaloniki Central Market, Aphroditi Lioliou from the Managing Authority of Greece’s European Territorial Cooperation Programmes, EGNATIA ODOS Project Funding and Planning Director Petroula Mentizi, head of the Managing Authority  “Interreg 2021-2027” Maria Nezeriti, Grigorios Zarotiadis, Professor of Economics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

On the agenda were presentations of a project for the construction of the road that will connect Greece and Bulgaria in the region of Rudozem-Xanthi, as well as projects in the field of accessible environment, social care, child protection and cooperation in science and higher education.

The participants in the forum in Blagoevgrad included representatives of the regional and municipal authorities in southwestern Bulgaria, as well as from the Southwestern University Neofit Rilski.

The project “Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future” is implemented by BTA with the support of the European Commission and builds on the already implemented project “Europe in Bulgaria: A Common Future”.

Among the objectives of the project are a better understanding of the role of cohesion policy with a focus on the Balkans, raising awareness of projects funded by the EU through cohesion policy, promoting an open dialogue on the results of its implementation at local level, as well as civic participation on issues related to cohesion policy.

The series of conferences on the project was launched on 20 December last year in Sofia.

Four of the cross-border conferences have been held so far – in Bucharest/Ruse, in Edirne/Haskovo, in Skopje/Kyustendil and in Bosilegrad. After Tuesday’s conference, a similar forum is to be organized in Belgrade/Vidin.

The cost of the project “Europe in the Balkans: A Common Future” amounts to EUR 348,871. The implementation period is October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024. To achieve the set general and specific objectives, BTA is using a media mix including innovations such as virtual reality and a multi-channel media strategy. With the planned media mix, the agency expects to reach 700,000-1,000,000 people in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, North Macedonia, Greece and Turkiye.