Republics

Russian authorities have banned imports of animal products from China to Russia today, as well as Chinese national visits to the country, Izvestia newspaper reported.

According to the publication, it is no longer possible for travellers to import meat products from China into their hand luggage.

The measure is taken because of the Coronavirus and the ASF.

3.7 billion euros are the revenues from international tourism for 2019 in Bulgaria, according to the data of the Bulgarian National Bank, announced today. The results show an increase of 0.4% compared to 2018.

In December 2019 alone, revenues from foreign tourists exceed € 165 million, an increase of 10 percent over the last month of 2018, according to the central

bank.

Bulgaria will allocate BGN 200,000 in additional humanitarian aid to Albania as part of the donor conference organized by the European Union in Brussels. The funds raised through the conference are for the recovery and rehabilitation following the severe earthquake in Albania on November 26, 2019. To overcome the damage, the European Commission has decided to allocate € 100 billion.

Albania's Prime Minister Eddie Rama has said he hopes the international donor conference in Brussels to raise at least 400m euros for the country to restore after the strong earthquake, AFP reports.

A delegation of Turkish military officials is due in Athens to resume confidence-building talks amid tension between the two NATO members over maritime oil-and-gas drilling rights.

The talks are due to start in Athens later Monday and last several days, taking place as the East Mediterranean neighbors remain at odds over maritime boundaries in the region.

Turkey will participate at the International Donors' Conference for Albania, scheduled to be held in Brussels on Feb. 17. 

Faruk Kaymakçı, Turkey's deputy foreign minister and director for EU affairs, will attend the conference, organized by the European Commission, which "aims to heal the earthquake wounds of brotherly Albania, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

More than 6,000 bodies in six mass graves were discovered in Burundi, authorities said on Feb. 15.

It is the largest discovery since excavations were launched last month to find victims of ethnic violence.

Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias outlined Greece's concerns stemming from Turkey's stance in the Eastern Mediterranean and Libya at Friday's Munich Security Conference.

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban had a meeting with his Georgian counterpart, Giorgi Gakharia, on Friday, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, in which context the Romanian official thanked his counterpart for the active involvement of his country in the Black Sea-Caspian transport route.

The Romanian economy slowed down to 4.1 percent last year, after 4.4 percent in 2018 and 7.1 percent in 2017, show flash estimates released by the National Institute of Statistics on Friday. The GDP advance in Q4 2019 from the previous quarter was 1.5 percent, while growth in the third quarter was 0.6 percent QoQ.