site.btaBulgaria First to Grant French Request for Olympic Security Assistance

Bulgarian police officers will go to France to assist local law enforcers in providing security for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games (July 26 - August 11) and the Paralympic Games (August 28 - September 8). The group was received at the residence of French Ambassador to Bulgaria Joel Meyer on Friday, the Interior Ministry reported.

Preparing for the large-scale event, the French Interior Ministry asked more than 40 countries to send police officers on site. Bulgaria is posting 31 border police officers to work at Paris Orly Airport and in Perpignan, near France's border with Spain, and five officers with dogs trained to detect explosives, who will work in the capital.

Ambassador Meyer thanked the Bulgarian group in advance for their contribution to security control at the Games. He said Bulgaria is the first country to grant the French request, which he described as another testimony to the high standard of bilateral cooperation. According to the diplomat, every time someone from the 2,000-member French community in Bulgaria asks the local police for assistance, she or he is received well and treated with professionalism.

Interior Ministry Secretary General Dimitar Kangaldzhiev said that security control at the most significant international sport event poses a great challenge, particularly in the present complicated international situation. Kangaldzhiev thanked the Bulgarian and French police teams for the timely coordination and instruction for the Bulgarian officers, whose mission is a reason for national pride.