SDSN Bulgaria Has Been Officially Launched

By ringing the academic bell the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov and the President of Bulgaria for 2012-2017 Rosen Plevneliev officially launched the National Sustainable Development Solutions Network - SDSN Bulgaria, part of the global SDSN established by the UN to promote the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs/) of the world organization. Our University is the Coordinator of the Network for Bulgaria under the chairmanship of the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov and the Vice-Rector for Research and International Affairs Assoc. Prof. Dr. Michael Musov.

Among the official guests were also the Vice President and Head of the SDSN office in Paris Guillaume Lafortune, the Co-Chair of SDSN Europe and SDSN Greece Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Michael Musov, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sheryo Nozharov, Vice-Chairman of SDSN Bulgaria, Chief Assist. Dr. Atanas Dimitrov and Assist. Dr. Gabriela Naskova - Managers of SDSN Bulgaria.

In his speech Assoc. Prof. Dr. Michael Musov underscored that the official opening of SDSN Bulgaria was not by coincidence held on the World Environment Day and therefore, it was preceded by a sod-turning ceremony marking the beginning of the construction of a photovoltaic installation for electricity production. In this way, the UNWE will become the first Bulgarian university with a photovoltaic park, contributing to the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The Vice President and Head of the SDSN office in Paris Guillaume Lafortune expressed his gratitude to the Rector for hosting the event. He highlighted the importance of today's event for Bulgaria and emphasized on the importance of the SDGs worldwide. In his presentation he examined the status of the SDGs globally at the mid-point in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and presented a global vision of how the world could implement the SDGs. Mr. Lafortune appreciated the efforts of governments and their commitment and outlined the place of Bulgaria in the SDSN networks. He noted that after 2020 and during the COVID-19 pandemic, a little progress was made due to lack of global collaboration regarding the sustainable development of the countries. However, according to him the SDSN would not give up on the SDGs no matter what challenges they would face.

The Network’s Chairpersons expressed their gratitude to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Blaga Blagoeva who has initiated the idea for the creation of SDSN Bulgaria and to the team that has worked for more than a year on the concept of the national network: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nina Tipova, Chief Assist. Dr. Alexander Dimitrov and Chief Assist. Dr. Kristian Zhelev.

The next important event organized by the SDSN Bulgaria will be in the autumn of 2023, when its first Annual Scientific Conference is planned. The Conference will be submitted for indexing in the global databases Scopus and Web of Science.