When Travelling Abroad, Bulgarian Nationals will Receive the Telephone Number of the 24/7 Hotline of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
06 August 2018 News
Starting tomorrow, 7th of August, every Bulgarian national with a SIM card of a Bulgarian mobile operator will receive a short text message upon entering the territory of a foreign country, containing the number of the 24/7 hotline of the MFA (+359 2 948 24 04), which they may use to seek help in case of an emergency. The message will be received as soon as the subscriber has entered a roaming area. In this way, the emergency hotline of the MFA will be readily available in the memory of the phone of each Bulgarian national abroad.
The three national mobile operators – A1, VIVACOM and Telenor – readily joined this initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a show of support of the Ministry’s efforts to improve administrative service and to ensure more efficient protection for Bulgarian nationals abroad.
Mobile operators will allow for the receipt of the message free of charge to Bulgarian nationals, the service not being linked to state expenditure. A call made to the 24/7 hotline of the MFA (+359 2 948 24 04) will be charged in accordance with the mobile phone tariff of the individual subscriber.
Deputy Prime Minister for Judicial Reform and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva expressed her gratitude to mobile operators, who took part in implementing this project which ensures that Bulgarian nationals travelling abroad are informed and safe. She highlighted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would continue to work on other projects that would facilitate access to administrative services for Bulgarians abroad.
In this day and age, threats to security related to natural disasters, the start of military conflict, terrorist attacks, political upheaval, unrest, rebellions, etc. often affect Bulgarian nationals, too, and they require the provision of specialised assistance and – often – immediate response on the part of Bulgarian institutions.
Depending on the type of emergency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates efforts to provide assistance to Bulgarian nationals with various national and foreign institutions and administrative services.