site.btaBulgarian Prime Minister Discusses Coronavirus Outbreak with Chinese Premier by Telephone

March 18 (BTA) - Prime Minister Boyko Borissov had a
telephone conversation with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on
Wednesday in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, the
Bulgarian government press service reported. The two leaders
discussed their countries' efforts to curb the spread of
COVID-19.

Prime Minister Borissov congratulated China on its effective
measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. For his part, Premier
 Li thanked Borissov for his support and empathy at the most
difficult moment of the coronavirus crisis in China.

Li expressed China's willingness to donate masks, goggles,
gloves and other protective gear to Bulgaria. Beijing also plans
 to deliver such supplies under a European Commission scheme,
and Bulgaria can benefit from it as an EU member state, he said.
 He pledged to assist Bulgaria in contacting Chinese
manufacturers of protective equipment and ventilators, so that
Bulgaria can buy such products through the agency of the two
governments' ministries of economy and trade.

Borissov thanked Li and the Chinese government for their
donation initiative and for a past donation of 12,000 disposable
 masks and 2,000 special masks provided to Bulgaria by the
government of China's Jiangxi Province and the China-Europe
Association for Technical and Economic Cooperation.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Borissov thanked for the Chinese
authorities' assistance in evacuating two Bulgarians from the
city of Wuhan on a French flight in early February and for the
care extended to a Bulgarian university student who is still in
Wuhan.

Premier Li expressed his confidence that the Bulgarian
authorities will look after the Chinese citizens and students in
 Bulgaria. Borissov responded by saying that each of the two
countries ought to look after the other country's citizens
staying in its own territory.

The two leaders underscored the friendly relations between
Bulgaria and China. RY/VE

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