The President Rumen Radev at the UNWE: I Wish High Ambitions, Faith and Strengths for Achieving Them

Tuesday, 17 April 2018 16:05

The UNWE and the President Rumen Radev will work jointly to make the university serving as a center of Academy for European studies. The Vice President Iliana Yotova will be responsible for the initiative and it will start in May with various events and forums which will collect the young people ideas about the future of the European Union and their vision for Bulgaria in the EU. The young people ideas about their future after 15 and more years are important and valuable. It was said by the Rector of UNWE Prof. D.Sc.(Econ.) Statty Stattev at the opening of the 15th edition of the Youth Economic Forum (YEF) on the Economic and Foreign Policy Challenges to Bulgaria 2018 organized by the Student Council. The patrons of the event are the President Rumen Radev and the Rector Prof. Statty Stattev. 

Guests at the Forum which was opened by Kristian Madzhurov, Chairman of the Student Council were students, lecturers, ambassadors, etc. 

Kristian Madzhurov
The crowded Maxima Aula
The opening of the Youth Forum began with the Bulgarian anthem, EU anthem and Gaudeamus igitur

Prof. Stattev expressed his thankfulness to the President Radev for accepting the invitation to become a patron and active participant in the YEF at the largest higher school in Bulgaria and the largest business university in Southeastern Europe. The fact that the Forum is held for the 15th time speaks about its capacity. It has turned into an academic tradition and an area for professional exchange of visions, ideas, well-grounded discussions and meetings between our students and representatives of the government, added Prof. Stattev.

The Rector awarded to the President a statuette of the monument to Prof. Stephan Bobchev - founder and first Rector of UNWE (in the picture below).

It is necessary to have a debate for suggesting themes, promoting positions and looking for national solutions. The most important thing is the participation of young people in it because they will implement the ideas and they will bear the consequences of them. Congratulations for your wonderful initiative, declared the President Rumen Radev in the beginning of his 40 minutes lecture on the Social and Economic Development of Bulgaria – Challenges and Perspectives. The economy is inseparably linked with the politics because no economy in the world can stand without the support of executive and legislative authorities. The success of economy is accounted by the benefits it brings to the society, outlined the President. According to him for leading a successful  policy it is needed to answer three questions – where we are, which are the objectives and where we go as well as which are the priorities and how they will be implemented.

If we compare Bulgaria 20-30 years ago to Bulgaria nowadays, we will find a number of achievements – a democratic constitution has been created, the way from a planned to market economy has been gone, privatization has been implemented, Bulgaria has been joined to the EU and NATO, the legislation has been harmonized with the European one in a number of fields, European funds have been put in use but Bulgaria more and more sustainably occupies the last places in the rankings for death-rate, emigration of young labour force, depopulation of regions. Our country is the poorest one in Europe, said the President. As reasons of that he pointed out the barbarian privatization, the imposed over the years economic structure in which the sectors with low added value and low payment occupy the leading places as well as the huge share of grey economy. The President said explicitly that the government should be supported but not uncritically because of the frequent and chaotic alterations in the Bulgarian legislation leading to unpredictability and combined with the lack of control have a bad impact on business environment. The public discussion must precede the legislative process. It is not less important to stop the tradition for taking government decisions in non-transparent way or spending the public funds in darkness. It is high time to turn on the lights, appealed the President. 

 Students

Answering the second questionwhere we go - the President emphasized on the necessity of more light. According to Radev the priorities should include the eradication of poverty and misery as well as to cope with the demographic catastrophe, stop the depopulation and the government policy regarding the Bulgarians abroad should include the creation of such economic environment which could stimulate them to go back to Bulgaria. It means high economic growth with high added value and accent on the competitiveness. The President cited Goethe's last words before dying: "Light! More light!". Bulgaria looks like a construction site but we don`t know who builds because it is dark, said Radev.

According to the President the answer of the third question - how to implement the changes - is in the adequate qualitative education and culture, knowledge of new technologies, different vision about the development of Bulgaria and the world as well as new ideas about the future. The people who can implement them are the young people, declared the President. He shared also his vision about the higher education – the one way is to teach, remember and reproduce and the other way is the winning one – to stimulate the strategical thinking, development of leadership qualities and skills of self-education after graduation from the university.

After the lecture the students asked Rumen Radev questions about the entering of Bulgaria in the Eurozone, cohesion policy, his opinion about the military strikes in Syria and the opportunity for establishing a presidential party (in the pictures below).

The President read his epistle in the Golden Book of UNWE: “The success comes where has a strong tradition, sensible assessment of the present and confident vision to the future based on knowledge. I wish high ambitions, faith and strengths for achieving them”.

On behalf of the Student Council Kristian Madzhurov awarded the YEF Honorary Plaque to the President Rumen Radev and to the Rector of UNWE Prof. Statty Stattev (in the picture below)

The President and the Rector laid flowers at the monument to Prof. Stephan Bobchev and took pictures with students

Photo gallery from The President Rumen Radev at the UNWE: I Wish High Ambitions, Faith and Strength ...