Balgarianovinite.com Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) and Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) began exchanging news after BTA Director General Kiril Valchev and APP Managing Director Muhammad Asim Khichi signed a cooperation agreement in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The signing at APP headquarters was attended by Bulgaria’s ambassador to Pakistan, Irena Gancheva, and Federal Secretary Ashfaq Ahmad Khalil of Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MOIB), with the deal covering free online sharing of English-language news, photos and video.
The agreement says that both parties will provide each other, free of charge, with their English-language news, photo, and video services for online distribution.
Each agency will also provide the other, on a daily basis, with one English-language story and a photo covering a major news development in its country, for publication on the other agency’s distribution channels. The content will be freely accessible to all visitors, with the source clearly credited.
The deal also provides for the exchange of expertise through professional visits by journalists. It takes effect on the date of signing and will be automatically renewed annually for an indefinite period.
“As a result of this cooperation, the BTA website will have a special section dedicated to APP news from Pakistan. We also expect APP to publish BTA news about Bulgaria on a regular basis. More news will benefit people in both countries who want to do business, travel as tourists, or learn about the other’s culture,” Valchev said. Citing Allama Iqbal to underline that promises must be matched by deeds, he said the signing translated the two agencies’ announcements into a concrete step.
Valchev noted that this was the second similar agreement between APP and BTA, following last year’s commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Bulgaria. He added that two years after relations were established in 1965, the first agreement was signed on March 15, 1967, and approved by Pakistan’s Cabinet, as documented in BTA’s archives.
Valchev noted that nearly one third of BTA’s 50 cooperation agreements with national news agencies are with Asian countries, including Vietnam, Israel, India, Iran, Yemen, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mongolia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Japan.
“Cooperation between APP and BTA exemplifies how news agencies fulfill their most important responsibility: helping people around the world get to know and understand one another. Learning about each other and drawing comparisons not only allows us to adopt best practices, but also serves as a safeguard for peace,” Valchev said.
He thanked Gancheva for her efforts in making the signing possible and added that the exchange of reliable news between APP and BTA helped both sides remain “upon the path of truth,” quoting Iqbal: “Upon the path of truth … Fear dies, and doubt.”
“The agreement between BTA and APP is more than a formal document between two institutions. It is a meaningful step toward strengthening cooperation between Bulgaria and Pakistan through the exchange of reliable information, professional expertise, and journalistic standards. It will help ensure that our peoples receive accurate, balanced, and timely news about both countries and their achievements,” Gancheva said. She added that the agreement would serve as a bridge between the two societies and highlighted opportunities to share information in the fields of culture, education, the economy, science, and tourism.
Valchev gave Khichi copies of BTA reports on Pakistan’s declaration of independence in 1947 and on the establishment of diplomatic relations with Bulgaria in 1965, as well as photographs from the early period of relations between the two countries. APP also received the Bulgarian Mint medal and a postage stamp marking BTA’s 125th anniversary, an English-language version of a book featuring one BTA news story from each of the 125 years since its first bulletin, and English-language issues of BTA’s LIK magazine dedicated to the magazine’s 60th anniversary, to Bulgaria in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences’ 155th anniversary, to Bulgarian science in Antarctica, and to Bulgaria’s footprint in Space on the 45th anniversary of Georgi Ivanov’s flight, which made Bulgaria the sixth country to send a person into Space. APP also received a bilingual English-Bulgarian edition of the book Symbols of Bulgaria, edited by Tanya Nikolova, a long-serving staff member in BTA’s Reference Department. Gancheva gave APP a plaque marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Pakistan, while Khichi gave BTA an APP plaque.
Ahead of the signing, Valchev toured APP headquarters in Islamabad and met with the agency’s senior management. His programme also includes a visit to APP’s correspondent bureau in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city.
APP was founded in 1947. It employs around 700 people, maintains offices in 19 cities across Pakistan, and has correspondents in the United Kingdom, India, China, and the United States. Its news is published in nine languages: English, Urdu, Chinese, Arabic, Sindhi, Saraiki, Pashto, Balochi, and Brahui.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is located in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent in South Asia and covers 796,095 square kilometers. With a population of more than 252 million, it is the world’s fifth-most-populous country. Nearly 35% of the population is under 14 years old, the median age is 23, and about 96% of the population is Muslim.
After the National Assembly made BTA’s news content freely accessible in 2021, Bulgaria’s national news agency secured new contracts with the international agencies from which it purchases content, enabling all Bulgarian media to republish their stories translated into Bulgarian free of charge.
In addition to purchasing content from five global news agencies, the agreement with APP enables BTA to provide Bulgarian media, free of charge, with news from a further 51 agencies across four continents (Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa) under similar cooperation arrangements. These include the national news agencies of all countries neighbouring Bulgaria and 23 European agencies (16 from EU Member States, including the two global agencies Agence France-Presse (AFP) of France and dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) of Germany) that are members of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA). BTA already has agreements for the daily free exchange of news with the national news agencies of Austria, Azerbaijan, Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vietnam, Ghana, Georgia, Greece, Egypt, Israel, India, Iran, Spain, Italy, Yemen, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus, China, Kosovo, Côte d’Ivoire, Latvia, Liberia, Lebanon, Morocco, Moldova, Mongolia, Nigeria, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Poland, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Serbia, Turkiye, Hungary, the Philippines, Croatia, Montenegro and Japan (under an agreement dating back to 1964). BTA also subscribes to news from Ukraine’s national news agency.
Under the concept adopted when the National Assembly unanimously re-elected Valchev on December 3, 2025, for a second term as BTA Director General, BTA set a goal of signing free news exchange agreements with national news agencies in 25 additional countries over the next five years. BTA and Pakistan News Agency APP Sign News Exchange Deal 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-01-21 23:16:00 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
