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Bulgaria and Greece opened Friday a cross-border Contact Center initiating one-stop border control on their major border crossing point.
The Contact Center was inaugurated by Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov and the Greek Civil Protection Minister Mihalis Hrisohoidis at the Kulata-Promahonas border crossing.
Thus, Bulgarian and Greek policemen will be inspecting together the documents of those crossing from one country into the other by car at Promahonas on Greek territory, and those crossing by train – at Kulata on Bulgarian territory.
“Easter is coming and I am certain that this Easter, thanks to the one-stop border control, the citizens of both Bulgaria and Greece will be able to travel in a more convenient way. This is when the Bulgarians will really feel what we are doing and why it is important for us to join the Schengen Agreement and to be able to travel in a more simple way,” Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetanov said.
“This contact center is for both nations, it is going to boost the development of the entire region, and our efforts will continue in the future so that Bulgaria can join the Schengen Agreement as well,” Greek Civil Protection Minister Hrisohoidis declared at the opening.
He has pointed out that tackling crime is becoming more and more “organized” and “globalized” requires joint actions on both sides of the border, and stressed that switching to one-stop border control does not in any reduce the measures against human and drug trafficking and contraband.
The Greek Minister also emphasized the hard task that he and his Bulgarian counterpart have to fight illegal migration.
The cross-border Contact Center at Kulata-Promahonas is a pioneer service of the police forces of Greece and Bulgaria.
The inter-state cross-border agreement for the establishment of a joint Contact Center with shared facilities on the Greek side of the border for a "one-stop border control" was signed in April 2008 by then deputy interior minister Panayiotis Hinofotis with then Bulgarian interior minister Mihail Mikov in Sofia.
This happened at the meeting of justice and internal affairs ministers from the Southeast Europe Cooperation Process, aimed at the creation of a joint contact center for the coordination of crime-fighting actions and the conduction of joint border controls.
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