Sofia, 14 December 2021 (MIA) – Bulgarian news agency BTA has accredited a resident correspondent in Skopje and will be the first Bulgarian media outlet to open a press-club in the Republic of North Macedonia. Marinela Velichkova will be BTA’s correspondent from Skopje, says the agency. Velichkova has covered the Balkans as the editor-in-chief and director of Radio Blagoevgrad and deputy-editor-in-chief of Darik Radio. As a journalist in Radio Blagoevgrad, she worked on the first direct radio feed Skopje-Blagoevgrad right after Bulgaria recognized the independent of Republic of Macedonia back in 1992. She has realized a number of radio shows, interviews, reports, analyses and opinions on processes in the Republic of North Macedonia and its relations with Bulgaria, says BTA. The agency plans to send resident correspondents in all neighboring countries, North Macedonia being the first. The Bulgarian National Television (BNT) closed its office in Skopje in 2010 and the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) a year later. The BTA press-club will be located near the central square in Skopje and is set to officially open at the onset of 2022. BTA currently has two press-clubs abroad – Bosilegrad (Serbia) and Taraclia (Moldova) – and 18 press-clubs across Bulgaria. The goal of BTA Director General Kiril Valchev is to open a press-club in every regional city in Bulgaria and in regions populated by Bulgarian communities abroad. The national press-clubs are places for press conferences, discussions, exhibitions, experience exchange and training of journalists, says BTA. This May in Rome, MIA and BTA directors Dragan Antonovski and Kiril Valchev respectively, signed an agreement for exchange of information and professional cooperation, in the presence of countries’ Presidents Stevo Pendarovski and Rumen Radev. Based on the agreement, the two agencies are exchanging the day’s headline news, which is published without any interventions, explicitly quoting the other partner as the source.