During an official visit in Prague, Bulgaria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva said that the EU must fight together to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, but must not allow for its internal borders to close again.

“We experienced it once and it led to the blocking of thousands of people and the suspension of supplies of goods,” she said at a press conference on Thursday.

“I would like to state that Bulgaria is open to Czech tourists,” Zaharieva continued. “And the authorities have taken all necessary measures for their safety.”  She also congratulated the Czech Republic for being “an example to other countries after opening its borders for free entry of EU citizens.”

In June, Zaharieva said that Bulgaria was one of the safest travel destinations to travel to in regards to the pandemic. Similarly, during Thursday’s meeting, the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tomas Petricek also commanded Bulgaria on their management of the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing that it was one of the first countries with which the Czech Republic resumed tourism.

Bulgaria opened its borders to EU citizens in May, after a two-month entry ban. Freedom of movement among EU countries has been in effect since mid-June.

Zaharieva was visiting Prague on the official invitation of her minister counterpart. Other than the preventative measures for the pandemic, the two discussed how to restore business development between their countries, stressing that there is considerable potential for developing their relations in trade and economics, especially in the fields of innovation and digital technologies.

“With the Czech Republic, we have almost complete agreement on a number of issues,” Zaharieva said.

“We welcome the EU budget plan for the next programming period, and in this respect, we welcome the proposed balance between loans and grants in the new recovery instrument. It is crucial that cohesion policy continues its current form,” she added asserting that this is a guarantee that there will be no deepening of the differences in the economic development of regions and countries./Sshengen Visa Info