25.01.2021
“The outbreak and spread of the global health crisis over the past year is responsible for the significant decline in the tourist flow between Bulgaria and Turkey. I am confident that the trend will be reversed once the threat of COVID-19 passes away,” Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said at his meeting with the Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey Mehmet Ersoy.
The Prime Minister noted the great importance of the First Session of the Bulgarian-Turkish Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation that was adjourned because of the pandemic. “Bilateral economic relations and common projects of mutual interest will help strengthen overall ties between Bulgaria and Turkey,” Prime Minister Borissov stressed. In this context, the Bulgarian Government’s measures are intended to promote tourism and the contacts between the two countries’ business communities.
In the discussion with Minister Ersoy Prime Minister Borissov stressed that Turkey is Bulgaria’s next-door neighbor, NATO ally and EU’s key partner in areas such as migration, counterterrorism action, energy, agriculture and animal husbandry, trade, economy and other.
“Bulgaria and Turkey have traditionally good relations and we have always aspired to find solutions to problems in a spirit of good neighborliness and mutual respect,” Mr. Borissov emphasized. The Prime Minister underscored that Bulgaria recognizes the significant migration burden and the risks confronting Turkey as it hosted over 3.7 million migrants and refugees, especially in view of the common situation as caused by COVID-19.
The Prime Minister added that Bulgaria supports the dialog with Ankara and has invariably insisted that the EU should keep the channels of communication with Turkey open.
