BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 26. Azerbaijan and Bulgaria are negotiating to relaunch the direct flights, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria to Azerbaijan Rouslan Stoyanov said in an exclusive interview with TurkicWorld.

He pointed out that there is a potential for the development of cooperation in the field of tourism.

"To strengthen tourism ties the Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism has proposed to host a meeting of the Bulgaria-Azerbaijan Tourism Working Group in 2023 with a view to elaborating a joint action plan for the period 2023-2025. Just a few numbers: In 2022 5 040 tourists from Azerbaijan have visited Bulgaria, which is an increase of 114 % compared to the number of visits in 2021. For comparison in 2019, before Covid-19 they were 4158, in 2020 during the pandemic they were 1682 and in 2021, the total number of visits of Azerbaijani tourists was 2350. Here I would like to recall that in 2018 and 2019 "Buta Airways" operated a direct line between the cities of Baku and Sofia. For the months during which the line functioned, an increase in the number of passengers was observed. The line is currently not operating, but both sides are actively negotiating to relaunch it. Opportunities are being sought for the development and promotion of the partnership between tour operators from both countries, the development of auxiliary and entertainment services, the exchange of groups of tourists, the participation of companies in the organized tourist exhibitions of both countries, the development of tourist routes. In this regard, just a few days ago, Bulgaria was represented with a national stand at the 19th Azerbaijan International Travel and Tourism Exhibition - the largest international tourism exhibition organized in the country and has received the status of a leading international exhibition in the Caucasus region. The Azerbaijani side has also shown interest in the opportunities of Bulgarian companies to participate in the construction of tourist infrastructure in the country," he said.