On 19 June 2026, at the Peroto Literary Club, the National Trust Ecofund (NTEF) held its annual event to review achievements and look ahead. Representatives of municipalities, Rila National Park, the Club of Laureates of the Mimi Pramatarova Nature Conservation Award, partners, experts and friends took part in the event.
The event was hosted by Prof. Dimitar Nenkov, Chair of the NTEF Management Board.
“Is Nature Expensive to Us?” was the question explored by participants in this year’s youth creative competition. The First Prize – a crystal statuette, a certificate and a one-time scholarship – was presented to Momchil Minkov from the Sports School in Samokov by Deputy Minister of Environment and Water Ms Reneta Koleva.
In her address, she underlined that for decades the National Trust Ecofund has been a loyal partner of the Ministry of Environment and Water and has consistently worked for the development and implementation of environmental policies.
Another First Prize in the competition was awarded to Marti Kokunev from Paisii Hilendarski Secondary School in the town of Madan. The two Second Prizes were awarded to Lazar Hristov and Denis Mollov, both from the Vocational High School of Electrical Engineering in Sevlievo. Two Third Prizes were awarded to Simona Peeva from Ivan N. Momchilov Secondary School in Elena and Nikol Miteva from the Sports School in Samokov.
Five special distinctions and two certificates were also awarded to teachers who contributed to the promotion of the competition.
NTEF Executive Director Ms Maria Minkova presented the NTEF Development Strategy for the period 2026–2035. It was prepared with the participation of our partners and beneficiaries, ensuring continuity with the previous strategy. We retain our role as a flexible and independent financial mechanism supporting environmental and climate policies and financing pilot and demonstration projects that can serve as models for wider application. In the new strategy, we add the development of new financial instruments and blended financing models for projects and expand the thematic scope of our work.
A panel discussion with the participation of NTEF experts and partners brought to the forefront the opportunities and needs for blended financing of climate adaptation projects, drawing on the experience gained from the implementation of financial instruments for energy efficiency projects. The discussion featured Ms Maria Minkova, Director of the NTEF Executive Bureau; Ms Nadia Dankinova, Executive Director of FLAG Fund; Ms Antonia Novakova from the EnEffect Center for Energy Efficiency; Ms Polina Dikova, sustainable finance expert; Ms Tsveta Nanyova, Executive Director of the Bulgarian-Austrian Consulting Company; and Ms Evgenia Aleksieva, Mayor of Pancharevo District of Sofia Municipality. The discussion was moderated by Kamelia Georgieva from NTEF.
Most valuable of all was the cheerful atmosphere and positive spirit, which were set from the very beginning by the violin performance of Anton Ivanov, a student at the National Academy of Music, and which later, after the official programme, naturally flowed into conversations among participants, new acquaintances and discussions of new ideas.
