The Rector Awarded to Dimitar Radev the Honorary Title of Doctor Honoris Causa of UNWE

The honorary title is conferred on Dimitar Radev for enhancing the UNWE's reputation as a research and educational center of national and international importance and for his services as a world-renowned economist and expert in the public finance management.

Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, Rosen Zhelyazkov, Dimitar Radev, Paul Hilbers, Prof. Dr. Rumen Brusarsky, Dean of the Finance and Accounting Faculty of UNWE

"This high title has a special symbolic value. Your career and your election for a second term as Governor of one of the oldest and best-functioning national financial institutions are the proof that you are one of the visionaries entrusted with the responsible task of maintaining the Bulgaria's financial stability. We are especially honoured that a person with such important public functions is a graduate of our university. We highly appreciate your professionalism and dedication to raising the profile of the BNB. Your high standard of work is a guarantee for the banking sector sustainable development and provides the right direction to lead the country's financial institutions", emphasized Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov. The Rector announced the decision of the Academic Council to confer on Dimitar Radev the highest honorary title of UNWE.

"Our University confers the highest honorary academic title of Doctor Honoris Causa of UNWE to courageous visionaries, personalities with proven social contribution and will to change as you undoubtedly are. Your personal qualities, professional skills and public reputation are a guarantee for the reputation of the BNB and the sustainable development of the banking sector. Welcome to the tight academic family of UNWE! In our person you will always find support and backup in your responsible work and mission for the benefit of society and the sustainable development of Bulgaria", said Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov.

The proposal to confer the honorary title on Dimitar Radev came from the Dean of the Finance and Accounting Faculty Prof. Dr. Rumen Brusarsky. He briefly presented Dimitar Radev's professional career and pointed out that he was Deputy Minister of Finance in six consecutive governments from 1992 to 2001. He has worked at the International Monetary Fund for 14 years. He has been Governor of the BNB since 2015 and he was elected for a second six-year term on July 18, 2023. Dimitar Radev was announced as Banker of the Year in 2020 and for five consecutive years, including 2022, he has been ranked among the world's best central bankers in Global Finance magazine's prestigious annual ranking of central bankers from all over the world.

"It`s a great pleasure for me to greet you on the awarding of the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa. It is not just the end of a successful career or an award for overall creativity, it is a recognition of a prestigious and worthy educational institution for its graduate for the path he has followed, for the achievements, for the fact that a person not only sought and found himself but formed himself in some rather turbulent years", outlined the President of the National Assembly Rosen Zhelyazkov. "Your biography contains all, it has brought together the fate of the seeking person who has been through the fall of the Iron Curtain, who has gained knowledge and experience from one socio-political system and then built himself up over another one. You are the man who does not always say what he knows but always knows what he says."

On behalf of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Rumen Radev, his Advisor for Education Dimitar Zdravkov welcomed Dimitar Radev on the awarding of the high honorary title and read out a Greeting Letter.

"As a world-renowned economist and expert in the public financial management, you have successfully managed the responsible task of ensuring the country's financial and banking stability independently and without political interference all these years being head of one of the country's most prestigious and respected institutions. The BNB has strategic objectives to achieve on which the future of Bulgaria depends. I am convinced that under your expert leadership these objectives will be successfully implemented leading to an improvement in the lives of all Bulgarian citizens", is said in the Greeting Letter.

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund /IMF/ Paul Hilbers outlined in his speech: "It is an honour to be I could say at the world-renowned University of National and World Economy, and I would like to heartily greet Dimitar Radev on being awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of UNWE, also on behalf of the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva. She is a graduate of the University and was very pleased that Mr. Radev was awarded this honorary degree. I would like to mention some of Mr. Radev's achievements in relation to the IMF over the last decades. He has a long history related to our institution. From 2001 to 2003 he was an Advisor to the Managing Director of the IMF and from 2003 to 2015 he was a senior staff member of the IMF in the Fiscal Affairs Department, where he prepared a number of important financial reports during those years". He added that Mr. Radev is a man with solid knowledge not only in the field of fiscal policy but also in the field of monetary policy, which in his opinion is very rare in the careers of the global economists but extremely valuable. "As Deputy Minister of Finance from 1992 to 2001 Mr. Radev contributed to the consolidation process of your country as well as to fiscal transparency and accountability. All this happened in the early years of Bulgaria's transition to a market economy and Mr. Radev had a leading role during those years. Later, as Governor of the BNB, he managed to organize the Currency Board very competently and he worked hard on the process of euro adoption in your country. It is also an important goal of the current government and the IMF strongly supports this very important project.“

In a video address the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva emphasised: "To be awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the university where you obtained your education is extremely exciting and at the same time a great responsibility. I say this from my personal experience. Dimitar Radev, the Governor of the 145-year-old Bulgarian National Bank, deserves it". She pointed out that he is one of those personalities who are not afraid of change but seek and implement it. "From the reform of banking supervision and bank stress tests to Bulgaria's accession to the Single Monetary Mechanism, Dimitar Radev has proven his professional and leadership qualities. He is about to go into history as the man who will successfully lead Bulgaria to accession to the eurozone. My sincere congratulations to the financier, the Governor, the diplomat, the man Dimitar Radev. The UNWE has a true friend in his personality", said Kristalina Georgieva.

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"The honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa is as important for Dr. Dimitar Radev as it is for those who present. It is also very important for the young people sitting in the hall to see that they have stepped on a path that can lead them to the highest possible spheres of human knowledge", said the financier Levon Hampartzumyan. "Dr. Radev as Governor of the Central Bank will also be the person who will join Bulgaria to the Eurozone with dignity. The Central Bank will set up part of the infrastructure necessary for the transition. It is a complex technical process, some of the things are not visible to the public but at the same time they have to be done very efficiently." Mr. Hampartzoumyan wished Dimitar Radev success in managing and regulating the infrastructure: "You are the person who manages to do it with great competence and professionalism".

"I am very excited because I have known Mr. Dimitar Radev for many years. I am happy because I have the opportunity to come into contact with many important personalities and witness their great achievements. One of Mr. Radev's undisputed achievements is the Monetary Council. I cannot imagine what situation we would be in if it had not existed. Mr. Radev is always where the state needs him, he is a true leader", said Prof. Dr. Eng. Lilyana Valcheva, Chairwoman of the UNWE Trustees Council and Chairwoman of the National Branch Syndicate Higher Education and Science to the Independent Syndicates Confederation.

Dimitar Radev expressed his gratitude emphasizing: "For me It is a great honour and an act of deep symbolism as it comes from my university and at the same time from the largest business school in Southeastern Europe."

In his academic speech Dimitar Radev said: "Probably, like many of you, I am trying to answer the questions about the environment in which we live in and what comes ahead. When I talk about the environment, I mean the political and macroeconomic environment. The first word that comes to mind is uncertainty. It refers to both the global and the national political and macroeconomic environment. For the first time since many years we have experienced so many crisis situations in such a short space of time. Today I will focus on the steps we have to take in such an environment of uncertainty. I will summarize these steps in three groups - first, the creation of a sustainable and workable political architecture, second, the consolidation of the macroeconomic framework and third, the development of institutions." In the course of his speech Dimitar Radev pointed out that the macroeconomic development of our country could not be successful if it is not supported by structural reforms on a broad front, including in the areas of energy, transport and infrastructure. He emphasized that the main focus of structural policy should be on the demographic development which is undoubtedly the most serious challenge for our country in medium and long term. It is related to important reforms in the health, education and social systems from the labour market to the pension system that should no longer be postponed. According to Dimitar Radev the implementation of these reforms depends on two factors, namely - the creation of a sustainable and functioning political structure and the development of institutions.

"Weakly working institutions are a chronic problem for the country but we have good examples of institutional development. I am always tempted to give as an example the BNB and I think I do it objectively and impartially. In the period 2014-2015 the NBB was in a deep institutional crisis and was under strong pressure by the politicians and the public. Today the BNB is the only Central Bank in the European Union that works closely with the European Central Bank, and it is also the only public institution in the country that is a full member of important eurozone institutions. I would like to cite another positive example of institutional development, and that is undoubtedly the UNWE. I think that all of us - lecturers, students, former and current employees - have the reason to be proud of the development of our university", said Dimitar Radev.

With part of the Rector`s and Dean`s leadership of UNWE

After Dimitar Radev's academic speech the students had the opportunity to ask questions to the BNB Governor.

Before the official ceremony there was a short meeting of the official guests and the Rector's Managing Body.

Prof. D.Sc. /Econ./ Nikolay Nenovsky, member of the BNB Board, lecturer at Jules Verne University, France and UNWE, Prof. Dr. Rumen Brusarsky, Paul Hilbers, Dimitar Radev, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Petar Chobanov, Deputy Governor of BNB, Rosen Zhelyazkov, Levon Hampartzumian

In the Rector's office Dimitar Radev wrote in the UNWE Golden Book:

"It is a great honour and pleasure for me to be awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the UNWE.

UNWE is the institution where my conscious professional and to a large extent my life's journey began.

?The UNWE is also the institution with which I have remained related throughout my professional life through my colleagues, many of whom are also alumni of the University.

I express my heartily thankfulness and deep gratitude to the UNWE for all it has given to me and to its thousands of alumni, current and future economists, bankers and politicians."

Solemn Ceremony

on Awarding the Honorary Title of Doctor Honoris Causa of UNWE

to Dimitar Radev

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