Bulgaria approves pact with U.S. on passenger information exchange

Bulgarian government on Wednesday approved a draft intergovernmental agreement between Bulgaria and the United States to exchange passenger information in a bid to improve the fight against terrorism, an official statement said.

According to the Government Information Service (GIS), the agreement will establish a framework by which the two countries will use their respective methodologies, applications and data on border screening and screening for terrorists to identify particular individuals engaged in international trips who may pose a risk.

"This provides opportunity for prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorism and other serious crimes, thereby facilitating the legitimate travel between Bulgaria and the USA," a GIS statement said.

The agreement will be implemented in accordance with the Agreement between the European Union and the U.S. on the use and transfer of Passenger Name Record data, signed in Brussels in 2011, the government agency said.

In October 2012, three months after a bomber blew himself up near an Israeli-packed tourist bus at the Burgas airport, killing five tourists, their Bulgarian driver and himself, Bulgaria and the U.S. inked an intergovernmental agreement enabling more serious sharing of DNA profiles, fingerprints and other information related to joint combating cross-border crime and terrorism. Endit