UNWE and Tsaribrod Municipality Made a Joint Appeal to the Foreign Minister Maria Gabriel for Building a temporary Border Crossing Point

With an appeal to the Foreign Minister Maria Gabriel for a positive response to the construction of a Border Crossing Point /BCP/ to facilitate the passage of citizens of the two countries began the meeting for signing a Cooperation Agreement between the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov and the Mayor of Tsaribrod Municipality Vladica Dimitrov.

"This BCP is a very important corridor through which the main flow of Turkish citizens working in Europe passes. This makes difficult the movement of people between the two countries. We have 700 workers in Dragoman, Slivnitsa, Kostinbrod, Bozhurishte as well as students and various businesses, not counting the Bulgarian tourists, which are over 10 000 a month", said the  Mayor Vladitsa Dimitrov.

The idea for this BCP is to be temporary and to ease the traffic during the busy summer period.

"For us it is extremely important that Bulgaria will help the areas inhabited by Bulgarians. As Hungary works for its minority in Serbia, Bulgaria should be more active in this regard", added Mr. Dimitrov. Unofficially, the number of Bulgarians in Serbia is 17 000 but according to official data their number is more than 12 000, it was announced by the Municipality.

The Mayor Vladitsa Dimitrov pointed out that no cooperation with Bulgarian institutions had been made and this would give additional impetus to the development of the Municipality.

The Rector Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov outlined that the UNWE is one of the largest universities in Bulgaria with nearly 20 000 students and has given the state 150 Ministers and 10 Prime Ministers. "This obliges us to maintain a very high level", said the Rector. He mentioned the initiative of UNWE to support the municipalities in retaining the young people.  Similar agreements have been signed with the municipalities of Petrich, Sandansky, Yambol, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Lovech, etc.

"Our idea is for municipalities to work with universities to look for models with local businesses and local authorities on how to retain the young people. We need to be more active together", said Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov adding that an important part of cooperation should be the search for joint projects to stimulate the local development, cross-border cooperation and the young people.

The Mayor Vladitsa Dimitrov, the Rector Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov and Bratislav Stamenov, Director of St. Cyril and Methodius Secondary School in Tsaribrod, Serbia

In the team of UNWE attended at the meeting were the Vice-Rector for International Cooperation Assoc. Prof. Dr. Yanko Hristozov, the Head of the Regional Development Department Assoc. Prof. Dr. Georgy Nikolov who will also be the Coordinator of the Agreement, the Director of the Rector's Office Mrs. Gergana Kirilova, and the Director of the Property Management Directorate Mr. Yulian Prilepsky.