Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelova met with Albania's Ambassador to Bulgaria Qirjako Kureta and discussed with him the possibilities of expanding the co-operation in the sector, the ministry said.

In 2017, over 34,000 Albanian tourists visited Bulgaria, placing the country at 27th place in the ranking for our foreign visitors. The two have said that the possibilities are much greater, because people are still not well familiar about each country's history, culture and tourism potential. For this reason, the trend of increasing mutual tourism is a fact.

Minister Angelkova stressed that one of the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2018 was the integration of the Western Balkans and the economic prosperity of the countries in this part of Europe. This can also be achieved with the help of tourism, which recognizes encouraging results in the cross-border partnership.

Nikolina Angelova has announced that the Ministry of Tourism is ready to initiate a meeting of tourism ministers from the region and the establishment of an international working group to create a common Balkan route. The initiative will be aimed at promoting peninsular countries to common markets, including distant ones, she said.

Ambassador Kureta supported the idea and stated that his country would join such a meeting that would encourage tourism and economic contacts, and an incentive for this was given to the successful holding in Sofia of the ministerial meeting "Tourism and Economic Growth" of the Bulgarian Euro-Presidency. He also expressed his willingness to set up a bilateral joint commission to share experience in the sector.

Minister Angelkova reminded us that our country will host in November 2018 the second International Congress of World Civilizations and the ancient routes together with the World Tourism Organization at the United Nations. Through the ambassador, she invited Albanian Tourism and Environment Minister Blendy Klos to join the forum and hoped that bilateral contacts in the industry would grow ascendant and sustained.