Mayor Metodi Baykushev’s Visit to AUBG

Blagoevgrad’s newly elected mayor, Metodi Baykushev, visited AUBG for a discussion with students on Monday, Nov. 27, in the BAC auditorium. The event was organized by MEU Blagoevgrad and the President’s Office. Mayor Baykushev’s main goals for the city include attracting new businesses, creating a better environment for existing businesses, and improving the quality of education to create more high-paying jobs.

Baykushev was a Business Law professor at AUBG from 2017-2019. At the time, he was combining his new position as an educator with his job as a lawyer and managing partner at Dimitrov, Petrov & Co. law firm, serving as Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, and handling other ongoing international cases. Balancing teaching with his other duties was challenging at first, but he found ambitious and bright students at AUBG.

“AUBG is partly to blame of me becoming a mayor,” said Baykushev. Working with students inspired him and changed his perspective on the negative stereotypes surrounding the younger generation. “There is a lot to fight for,” he said.

However, there is a good deal of work to be done by the city administration and the community, including AUBG, to achieve change. As of now, the mayor sees the campus as “an appendix to the city.” Through partnership with the municipality and civic action, AUBG can be better integrated into the local community.

AUBG President Margee Ensign stressed the importance of civic engagement and working with the municipality. “Civic engagement done well is democracy in action,” she said. “Our goal now is to be the leader in this region and in Europe in creating democratic ethical leaders who have learned first-hand how to solve problems.”

Baykushev said that the university is an asset to the Blagoevgrad community and vice versa. “This is our biggest challenge now: to start really working on this partnership and create synergies between Blagoevgrad with all stakeholders that it has, and AUBG as an institution that has so profound and diverse influence on our community here.”

Despite Blagoevgrad being considered a town that is “dying out,” Baykushev sees his hometown as a place with potential for expansion and improvement. A question from a student arose about using innovation and creativity to attract and improve businesses. Baykushev said that he is determined to find competent people and provide them with leadership and an environment where they can carry out business goals to better the city. One of his ideas is utilizing the Main Building as a hub to realize ideas about education, science, business, innovation, and art. The Main Building currently hosts AUBG, South-West University, and the Library, and it is partially used by the municipality.

As pointed out by another student in the auditorium, recycling is an issue in Blagoevgrad. Baykushev confirmed that it is indeed an urgent problem he is trying to solve. The preliminary waste treating facility does not comply with the EU requirements, which causes financial sanctions. Only a small portion of the waste is separated because of the lack of capacity in the facility.

“What we are going to do is: we will build a strong team of people who understand waste management, we will start doing the job that should have been done so far for many, many years by competent people. The problem we have is that we don’t have any time.” The team is currently working on a “biodegradable electricity-creating facility” that should be completed by 2025 and is funded by the EU. Failing to realize this project would mean returning the funds.

Improving waste management is also a financial problem. “From the very first day, I have committed to saying to the public only the truth no matter what it will cost me, because I can afford it,” he said.

The mayor is focused on identifying what needs to be done, finding an optimal strategy, and inspiring action. “So AUBG makes the most out of Blagoevgrad, and Blagoevgrad makes the most out of AUBG,” he said.