Vidin, on the Danube, January 21 (BTA) - The European Union (EU) should standardize digital formats of cultural heritage, Bulgarian News Agency Director General Kiril Valchev said in his opening speech at Friday's online conference titled "Cultural Heritage". This is the sixth event of BTA's "Bulgarian Voices for Europe" initiative, organized in partnership with the European Parliament.

Addressing the topic of digitization, Valchev gave BTA as an example for the preservation of large-scale cultural heritage. The agency has preserved its newsletters since 1898, written by hand until 1944 before a typewriter was used, and later on switching to the current digital format. BTA keeps Bulgaria's memory of every single day, Valchev said.

He greeted all participants and wished the forum success.

If there is a sphere in the world where Europe has preserved its significance, that sphere is unquestionably culture, MEP Eva Maydell said at the opening of the conference.

Maydell noted that with each passing year, Europe is becoming an increasingly significant part of the world. She expressed hope that proposals and ideas would come that would lead to the future development of the European Parliament and the EU, for the continent was "currently in the midst of the largest open democratic exercise in direct democracy in Europe. Solutions are offered by every European who wishes to participate".

"There is a close relationship between cultural heritage and youth, and young people need education," Bulgarian MEP Andrey Slabakov said in a video greeting to the forum's participants. According to him, culture and education are not received well in the EU and the funds allocated to them are insufficient. 

The conference "Cultural Heritage" is hosted by the BTA Press Club in Vidin. It focuses on the cultural, historical, archaeological, literary, and religious heritage of Europe and Bulgaria, and how to preserve and popularize it with the help of new technologies. RY/YV/BR