In the period June 9-11, 2023, the first international administrative meeting was held in Svishtov, Bulgaria under Erasmus+ project KA220-HED "Trifold approach to circular economy: perspectives of academia, business and wider society", with No 2022-1-BG01-KA220-HED-000085464 and acronym CRCLEcon. The forum was hosted by the "D. A. Tsenov" Academy of Economics, Svishtov, institutional coordinator of the project. The project partners took part in the meeting:
• Artifex University of Bucharest – Romania, with a delegation of three representatives, led by Prof. Dr. Alexandru Manole, Rector and P2 Project Leader, accompanied by Assoc. Dr. Catalin Deatcu, Head of Department and Prof. Dr. Ghenadie Ciobanu;
• University of Nis - Serbia, with a delegation of two representatives, headed by Prof. Dr. Maja Ivanovich-Djukic, P3 project coordinator and Prof. Dr. Marija Radosavljevic, administrative coordinator of the P3 project;
• Istanbul Esenyurt University - Turkey, with a delegation of two representatives, led by Dr. Saban Onur Viga and Dr. Engin Karaman.
During the working days of the meeting, issues of project administration, budget management and monthly reporting of work package activities were discussed. A discussion was held and plans were made for the next workshops. The administrative meeting follows the successfully held first workshop in Troyan region and second workshop in Bucharest.
The first day of the working meeting in Svishtov was dedicated to an introductory presentation of the participants. The progress of the second work package (WP2), the personal provision of the coordination of the project by partners (TPM1), as well as the achievement of the intermediate goals by the participants, were reviewed.
During the first day, working meetings were held with:
• Prof. Dr. Stoyan Prodanov, reviewer of the teacher's manual on circular economy (WP2) and head of the "Finance and Credit" department at the "D. A. Tsenov" Academy of Economics; as well as
• Prof. Dr. Mariyana Bozhinova, rector of the "D. A. Tsenov" Academy of Economics and the team of deputy rectors. The meeting took place in the form of a discussion about the possibilities for the future implementation of training activities between the institutions.
Prof. Dr. Andrey Zahariev, CIRCLecon project manager on the behalf of the institutional coordinator, took part in the two meetings through a video conference connection, who made a brief overview of what was achieved after the first two workshops in Bulgaria and Romania and set short-term tasks for the partners to solve.
The second day was dedicated to reviewing the efforts and contributions of each partner in the development of the learning content under the second work package (WP2). Funding rules and cost categories, counting of working days and required documentation were discussed. Implementation planning for the third work package (WP3) was carried out, which is aimed at trainees on circular economy issues. Milestones and important tasks under WP3 were discussed. Through brainstorming, the final structure and content of the circular economy teacher's guide were discussed.
The third day was dedicated to a discussion on extracting interactive content based on the writings of the WP2 project partners. Tasks were set on planning the dissemination of project results and external communication for the purposes of the third work package WP3. It was decided to hold the third seminar in the period September 21-23, 2023, hosted by the University of Nis - Serbia.
As part of the social program of the first administrative meeting, the foreign delegations visited the specialized study rooms at the "Finance and Credit" department and the academic museum in the Rectorate of the SA "D. A. Tsenov". Of special interest was the opportunity for the project partners to visit the events of the "Eagle on the Danube" festival held in the ancient Roman city of Nove near Svishtov, the 17th edition of which was held in the period June 9-11. Enriching their cultural and historical knowledge of Roman civilization, the research teams saw evidence of a circular economy through "living history", where reenactors recreate events from history and present attractions to the public. Thus, through cultural-historical tourism and reconstruction of past events, economic added value is created for public benefit. An excellent impression was made by the high commitment to the festival of professors, students and alumni of "D. A. Tsenov" Academy of Economics, headed by Prof. Dr. Stoyan Prodanov, honorary chairman of the Tourism Council - Svishtov and Head Assist. Prof. Dr. Stefan Stanimirov Prodanov - Legate of the First Italian Legion, Chairman of the Council for Tourism - Svishtov and lecturer from the "Finance and Credit" Department at the "D. A. Tsenov” Academy of Economics.
The overall organization of the administrative meeting was provided by Head Assist. Prof. Dr. Petko Angelov, coordinator of the CRCLEcon project for "D. A. Tsenov” Academy of Economics and scientific secretary of the "Finance and Credit" department at the "D. A. Tsenov” Academy of Economics, assisted by Assistant Prof. Dr. Silvia Zarkova, lecturer from the "Finance and Credit" department at the "D. A. Tsenov” Academy of Economics.
