October 14 (BTA) - The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA)  is
launching a new service, BTA Green, dedicated solely to
environment, Director General Kiril Valchev told a news
conference here Thursday. He made the announcement on the day of
 the 5-year anniversary of the ratification of the Paris Climate
 Agreement by Bulgaria. The new service, to be available both in
 Bulgarian and in English, will be accessible for all media
organizations, citizens and institutions for free.

BTA, which usually provides subscription-based news to its
users, already has a free services for COVID-related news, STOP
COVID-19, as well as information in the fields of education,
culture and science.

The new free news service is a sign of what one of the new
priorities of BTA will be, said Valchev.

From March 2022, BTA will open its entire output for free
access, excluding the copyrighted products.

Valchev said that BTA relies much on its new partnership with
the news website dir.bg and media owner LIMAAS. They have a
solid presence in the Bulgarian news media landscape and BTA
will use their entire potential on the topic of the green
transition.

LIMAAS CEO Galina Alexandrova said that this long-term
partnership with BTA will help raise the awareness of people,
businesses and news media in Bulgaria.

She said that the Free Transition project of the European
Commission is very important on a global scale and Europe in
general, and Bulgaria in particular. Her impression is that
awareness about it is low, and that was confirmed in an opinion
poll held by the Trend Agency and commissioned by dir.bg and
LIMAAS' 3e-news. The poll showed another two important things:
that over 60 per cent of Bulgarians support the green policies
of the EU and that over 71 per cent donТt have enough
information about the Green Deal and the details of the green
policies.   

In Bulgaria, the first of an awareness-raising eventrs is a
forum in Sofia with top-level officials, including EC Vice
President Frans Timmermans, who is in charge of the Green Deal,
Prime Minister Stefan Yanev, Deputy Prime Minister Atans Pekanov
 and EU Commissioner Maria Gabriel.

Another reason to bring to the fore the issue of the greek
transition is that it will allow access to considerable
resources, Alexandrova said. These resources will allow Bulgaria
 to transform its economy in the next 10-20 years and transition
 to a more hi-tech, more energy-efficient and competitive
industry, she added.

Kiril Valchev said that BTA and LIMAAS want to set a model of
cooperation "between two media organizations that provide
reliable information to the benefit of all". DD/LN/

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