The tourist flow between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria has significantly increased with the launch of the Baku – Sofia – Baku flight, Nikolay Yankov, Bulgarian Ambassador to Azerbaijan, told Trend.

“The number of issued visas for Azerbaijani citizens has increased by at least 40 percent since the opening of the flight, and we believe that this year the positive trend will continue after reopening the regular flights in spring”, he said.

The ambassador underlined that the goal is to deliver results that are more visible for the citizens of Bulgaria and Azerbaijan.

The diplomat went on to say that the establishment of a direct flight between the capitals was a very wise political decision made by the leaders of the countries, which is already bringing very positive results.

“Now there are more opportunities for closer connection between our peoples and more intense contacts in business, more dynamic economic relations,” Yankov stressed.

Further, touching upon the simplification of the visa regime between the countries, the ambassador said that Bulgaria does not impose unilateral visa regulations on other countries, but rather follows EU policy in this respect.

“Our embassy works according to the Agreement between the European Union and Azerbaijan on the facilitation of the issuance of visas [the purpose of the Agreement, which entered into force in September 1, 2014, is to facilitate, on the basis of reciprocity, the issuance of visas for an intended stay of no more than 90 days per period of 180 days to the citizens of the EU and Azerbaijan]. The consular section of the embassy always works to its full capacity to provide fast response to the requirements of the visa applicants and tries to proceed the documents in the shortest possible terms,” Yankov emphasized.

The opening ceremony of the Baku-Sofia air flight was held in January 16, 2018. An agreement on opening of direct flights between Baku and Sophia was reached during negotiations of Presidents of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Bulgaria Rumen Radev.

The capital of Bulgaria is the first city in the EU, where Azerbaijan’s low-cost airline Buta Airways performs direct flights.

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