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The national news agencies from Romania and Bulgaria, AGERPRES and BTA, on Thursday signed a cooperation agreement, in the context in which the two countries celebrate, on January 27, 30 years since the signing of the Treaty of friendship, cooperation, and good neighbourliness.
The agreement was signed by the general managers of the two media institutions, Claudia Nicolae and Kiril Valcev, and allows mutual access to the two agencies' news wires, as well as exchanges of experience between the AGERPRES and BTA journalists.
"The Treaty of friendship, cooperation and good neighbourliness between Romania and Bulgaria was signed in Sofia thirty years ago. Today, the two national news agencies have renewed their collaboration through an agreement signed on January 27 as well, as a symbolic gesture, meant to mark the friendship between the two countries. The agreement between AGERPRES and BTA has been signed in the confidence that together, through the experience exchange between the two institutions, we can bring plus value to the media space in both countries. The pandemic crisis, as well as the cyber security issues we are confronted with worldwide have made disinformation and fake news win increasingly more ground. That is precisely why the collaboration among news agencies is essential in combating disinformation and the fake news phenomenon," Claudia Nicolae said, Agerpres.ro informs.
In his turn, the BTA general manager said that the two news agencies will celebrate together the 30th anniversary of the 1992 Treaty through the opening of exhibitions in Sofia and Bucharest to include 30 photographs from the major events organized during the three decades.
"It is ridiculous that over these past 30 years the national news agencies of Bulgaria and Romania haven't had an agreement to exchange information, and the Bulgarian and Romanian people have had to learn the news about each other mainly from the big world agencies," said Valcev, who confirmed that this year BTA will also have a permanent correspondent in Bucharest as well.
Established in 1889, the National News Agency - AGERPRES provides balanced, impartial information, as the main source of information for the citizens and institutions in Romania, and also as the main source of news from abroad, in Romania. Ever since 1921, the agency has transmitted news and provided information incessantly. Among the services provided by AGERPRES are the thematic news wires, the news photography service and archive, the news monitoring service, the video and multimedia services, the documentary wire as well as printing services.
In 1990, AGERPRES adhered to the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) and became a member of the Association of the Balkan News Agencies (ABNA-SE). Currently, the National News Agency is partnering with more than 40 news agencies from around the world.
