Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic visited Bulgaria on Monday, the first day of opened borders closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and inspected the Balkan Stream part in the neighbouring country together with his host President Bojko Borisov, the Beta news agency reported.

Borissov reaffirmed his country’s commitment to the Balkan Stream natural gas pipeline project, despite the delay in construction, adding he wanted the pipeline – an extension of Russia’s TurkStream project – ready by the end of the year, the Emerging Europe website said.

“Let’s hope that coronavirus is gone and we can put the two months of delays behind us,” Borissov told reporters after inspecting progress on the pipeline with Vucic, the first foreign leader to visit Bulgaria after travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic were eased.

 “The construction of the gas pipeline means the economic growth, the growth of the industry but will also secure the emergent to our household in both Serbia and Bulgaria,” Vucic said.

When completed, the 474-kilometre pipeline will deliver primarily Russian gas from TurkStream via Turkey to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary, the website added.

Vucic thanked Borisov for the Bulgarian help to Serbia on its way to the European Union. He posted photos from Sofia’s airport and his meeting with Borisov, as well as a helicopter view of the works on a motorway to Serbia.

Borisov said that June 1 was the International Day for Protection of Children and that it wasn’t chosen for Vusic’s visit by chance.

“We are big children, and we like to play. This visit symbolically ends the quarantine. We believe that it’s time to socialise, enjoy, visit each other, hoping we will easier forget the crisis. Many people have died; the economic damage is huge. We should return to normal life now,” Borisov said.