The Cultural-Historical Heritage and the Unique Nature Are Our Invaluable Treasure

Zlatko Stoichev was born on May 14, 1951. He is a graduate in Electrical Engineering and has passed specialization courses in management and in flow-line control. Chief engineer in Vetprom-Pharmachim (1977-88), service engineer and representative of a group of Italian companies from Parma province (1989-2003). Since 2003 he is Mayor of Radomir Municipality.
Married, father of two. Proficient in Italian and English.

Mr. Stoichev, on the threshold of Bulgaria’s full membership in EU, what are the new prospects for the development of Radomir Municipality?
Radomir Municipality is the richest in fertile land in the district of Pernik. It is situated on two major roads – to Thessaloniki, _ 79, and to Skopje, _ 87, and this provides a good basis for investments. The location, historical landmarks, well developed infrastructure, and the operation of established industrial plants such as Besttechnica TM – Radomir, Radomir Metali AD, Vetprom AD, Q Electric, Galko, and the new production facilities of Vlanel, Radip Group, Kuhn Technology, etc. in the territory of the municipality determine the prospects for its development. It is obvious why the investors’ interest is high.

Do you have sufficient experience in the drawing and carrying out of joint EU projects yet?
Not so extensive, but ambitious enough. In the past three years we implemented projects under programs through the Enterprise for Management of Environmental Protection Activities and under PHARE, worth 2.5 million BGN.

In 2006 alone we have developed more than 40 projects. We expect them to be approved and financed so that we could fulfil the priorities laid down in the municipal strategy for 2007 and the absorption of the structural funds EU 2007-2013 could start.
Of course, we need to train more personnel and to increase the administrative capacity.

Is the public sufficiently aware of the rich cultural-historical heritage in the territory of the municipality and what care is taken for its preservation?
We are still to learn much about the history of our native parts. The heritage is enormous, dating back to the 5th c BC. We have 142 cultural-historical monuments, countless sanctuaries and mounds, which are not yet thoroughly explored archaeologically.
We are putting in tremendous efforts to preserve and popularize this invaluable wealth. Our ambition is to build up a museum of archaeology where all the items scattered in various institutions and museums would be gathered. We are drawing a project to this effect.

Are you exploiting the resources for cultural and eco-tourism?
The rich cultural-historical heritage in combination with the natural landmarks – the waterfall, the monastery, the chalets, the Ostritsa and Chukliovo Blato reserves, which are unique in the region, give us an opportunity to develop these kinds of tourism.
We have prepared several projects: Buchaloto Park; Eco Path: Izvor – the Monastery – Ostritsa Reserve; Monastery School; Eco Path: Debeli Lag – Chukliovo Blato Reserve.

What are your economic priorities?
Our priority will be to develop the small and medium-sized enterprises in the municipality, engaged in the processing of raw materials of any kind and agricultural produce. Our aim is the overall building up of these enterprises, of the public and residential buildings, schools and kindergartens. We will work for the recognition of the quality, competitive products of our industrial giants on the European market.

What opportunities does Radomir Municipality offer for the fulfilment of young people and what is being done for their qualification?
They have very good conditions for training, development and re-qualification – good municipal and state schools, two Internet centres, Internet at every school and kindergarten, Cultural and Information Centre Europe. We have an SOS village.
Three national festivals are held in the territory of the municipality: My Song, The Sun Is Coming, and Kukeri, which we hope will become international from 2007 on.

Tomorrow’s builders of new Europe have the great advantage of living in a peaceful world in the age of technologies. They should be more ambitious and responsible for tomorrow. They should be proud that in Radomir Bulgaria was proclaimed a republic 88 years ago, that Radomir district has given to the Republic of Bulgaria two prime ministers and a president of two mandates.