Department of International Economic Relations celebrates 30 years with a scientific forum
The Department of International Economic Relations celebrated thirty years since its establishment and the creation of the specialty of the same name at the Academy of Economics in Svishtov with a round table dedicated to the problems of the global economy and business. The official opening of the forum took place on September 29, 2023 at ten o'clock in auditorium 10 of the university and was broadcast live and on the Internet.
The head of the department Assoc. Prof. Zdravko Lyubenov expressed his gratitude to those present for the prestigious event and conveyed greetings on behalf of its founders Prof. Atanas Damyanov and Assoc. Prof. Ivan Spiridonov to the guests. Recalling the history and personnel development of the department, Assoc. Prof. Lyubenov emphasized that the creation and expansion of a strong core of fellow researchers over the years made it possible to form several scientific schools in areas such as Firm Internationalization, International Business, Foreign Trade Operations, International Tourism, with contribution to studies in International Economic Relations. After three decades of teaching and working with students, Assoc. Prof. Ljubenov noted with satisfaction the fact that many of the department's graduates work and establish themselves in senior positions in international and Bulgarian companies or successfully run their own businesses.
The Rector of the Academy of Economics, Prof. Mariyana Bozhinova, offered congratulations on behalf of the academic governing body on the anniversary of the department and welcomed the choice of topic for the round table as extremely relevant for today's turbulent times. Prof. Bojinova praised the department for the significant international connections and participation in projects created over the years, the successful exchange of personnel and knowledge, for the demonstrated sustainability in development, and wished them to continue to upgrade and search for new fields of scientific research. "I would especially like to highlight the unique experience of the International Economic Relations department in maintaining extremely effective, intensive contacts with the many alumni (graduates) of the specialty, and I wish you to really pass on your experience in this regard to the other departments of the Academy of Economics”, Prof. Bojinova stated.
Prof. Margarita Bogdanova, Dean of the Faculty of Management and Marketing also emphasized the active work of the department with its graduates and wished boldness and imagination for more interesting new initiatives. "This is a department that brings color, diversifies the efforts of the faculty and brings high added value in times when diversity, integrated research and multidisciplinary studies are perhaps the most valuable asset of researchers in a higher school", said Prof. Bogdanova.
Assoc. Prof. Georgi Marinov shared the satisfaction of the joint work and the friendly contacts created in addition to the official ones on behalf of the related IER department at the University of Economics in Varna: "Over the years, the department has proven itself as a group of people who, with their enthusiasm, succeed in achieving extremely high results as in the field of education as well as in science ... for these years it managed to provide our scientific community with a very strong cohort of successful doctoral students".
Plamen Mihov, graduate of the specialty from the class of 2001 and chairman of the Alumni Club: "The most important thing for these four years of studying International Economic Relations remains the attitude - we received an attitude from you, a direction and a vision of where the then turbulent times will develop. This attitude shown, given as an example and seen in you, we can apply afterwards wherever we decide to develop.”
Greetings were also presented by Prof. Andrey Zahariev on behalf of the Finance and Credit department and Head Assist. Prof. Nadezhda Stefanova from the Department of Management at the Academy of Economics, Prof. Karim Naama from the Department of Economic Theory and International Economic Relations at the University of Veliko Tarnovo "St. St. Cyril and Methodius". Congratulatory addresses were sent by the Svishtov departments Foreign Language Teaching, Business Informatics, Strategic Planning, Commerce, Insurance and Social Security, General Economic Theory, Statistics and Applied Mathematics, as well as from the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria. A video address was made by Prof. Yoto Yotov, graduate of the specialty from the class of 2000, professor at the LeBow College of Business at Drexel University (Philadelphia, USA) and research professor at the Center for International Economics of the ifo Institute (University of Munich, Germany).
After a general photo of the participants in the official part, the event continued with discussion of papers presented for the Round Table on Global Economy and Business organized for the anniversary. In person and in an online environment, topics from various aspects of modern international economic relations by authors from scientific circles and from business practice were discussed. The reports included issues of non-electrical applications of nuclear energy, opportunities for decarbonization of the economy, importance and trends in world trade in agricultural products and sustainable food chains in Bulgaria, trade in goods between the EU and Russia under restrictive measures, etc.
The aim of the scientific discussion was to reveal the trends facing the global economy and business and to outline the challenges facing economic and management knowledge in the researched area.
To popularize the results achieved from the round table, a collection will be published in paper form and in electronic form in the Dlib Virtual Library of the Academy of Economics. The collection will be included in the National Reference List (NRL) of modern Bulgarian peer-reviewed scientific publications.