October 20th marks the first anniversary of the establishment of the Romanian language ‎service of Radio Bulgaria. It was officially opened on October 20, 2022 at a ‎ceremony at the Bulgarian National Radio in the presence of the ambassadors of ‎Romania, the Republic of Moldova and guests related to the Bulgarian National ‎Radio and journalism. ‎

For the past year, the Romanian section of Radio Bulgaria has been actively ‎involved in covering a rich palette of events from the political, economic, ‎cultural, sports, religious and musical life in Bulgaria. Its team is following  ‎closely the dynamics of Bulgarian-Romanian relations, including through ‎interviews with the Bulgarian ambassador in Bucharest H.E. Radko Vlaykov, ‎with an analysis provoked by the signing of a joint declaration of strategic ‎partnership between the two countries, etc. In the focus of attention were the ‎relations on a human level between Bulgarians and Romanians, Romanian ‎cultural events in Sofia, topics related to the Bulgarian minority in Romania, etc.‎

Also, a partnership agreement between the Bulgarian National Radio and Radio Romania was signed.

• BNR and Radio Romania signed a cooperation agreement

The interest in the Romanian section of Radio Bulgaria can be judged by the fact ‎that its Facebook page has over 600 followers - a sign that it fills an informational ‎niche that is in demand. Posts from this page have been shared by other ‎Romanian-language webpages focused on European studies and international ‎relations, but also by Romanian Facebook users. ‎

We were pleasantly surprised by the desire of our readers to donate books to form ‎a kind of library for the Romanian editorial office of Radio Bulgaria. We look ‎positively on this idea and will probably soon make an announcement on this ‎issue.‎

The Romanian section of Radio Bulgaria established itself as a team that provides ‎expertise on issues related to the Romanian-speaking area. Its journalist Vladimir ‎Mitev is a frequent guest on the Horizon national channel of the BNR (the news and current affairs program) and the Hristo Botev national channel (the cultural program ‎of the Bulgarian National Radio), he conducts interviews with Romanian-‎speaking interlocutors on a variety of topics from the political, economic and ‎social life of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. In turn, Iulia Bahovski - the ‎other driving force of the Romanian section, travels constantly between Sofia and ‎Bucharest and participates in many Bulgarian-Romanian events related to cultural, ‎tourist or business contacts between the two peoples. She also does interviews ‎with people from the Bulgarian-Romanian space. The editor Alexandru Ionașcu, an associate based in Craiova, with a doctorate in Romanian and ‎British literature, also gives his support for the development of the Romanian ‎section of Radio Bulgaria. ‎

On November 3, 2023, a book will be presented at the Bulgarian Diplomatic ‎Institute, the result of the research project "Romanian foreign policy in a ‎geopolitical context and Bulgaria", which brings together two studies - that of ‎Aneta Mihailova, a specialist in Romania from the Institute of Balkan studies of ‎the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and of Radio Bulgaria's Vladimir Mitev.‎

Among other ideas on how to develop Bulgarian-Romanian relations, our ‎colleague argues why they need to have a popular element, i.e. the citizens of ‎both nations to be their subjects. According to Vladimir Mitev, this will build ‎more trust between people, they will get to know each other, the potential of ‎relations will grow and any policies that the elites try to lead will have greater ‎depth and density. ‎
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The Romanian section of Radio Bulgaria is part of this trend of opening up to Bulgaria's ‎neighbours, of the free exchange of information, of communicating verified and ‎accurate information that will overcome prejudices and show that the countries in this region are changing and modernizing. Thus, ‎together with the teams of the ‎Serbian, Greek, Albanian and Turkish language sections, ‎Radio Bulgaria ‎continues to pursue its ambitious goal of promoting communication in South-‎Eastern Europe, so that our peoples develop in friendship and cooperation!‎

Photos: BNR

Published by Rositsa Petkova