site.bta Trakia Economic Zone to Build Pan-European Intermodal Project with Italian Company

The Trakia Economic Zone (TEZ) in Plovdiv is starting a pan-European intermodal project with the public-private Italian company Gruppo UniRetiCon, said TEZ on Thursday. 

After the two organizations signed a Memorandum in Plovdiv in November 2023, TEZ Director Plamen Panchev and his team were received by Carlo Bottani, President of the Mantua Province, and his chief of staff, Fabio Venturi, in March 2024. The Bulgarian representatives, together with Gruppo UniRetiCon Director Gabriele Negrini and his team, discussed the next steps for the implementation of the transnational intermodal project between Italy and Bulgaria. Kamen Dikov, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Bulgarian Railway Infrastructure Company, also participated online in the meeting, and expressed support for the project.

The project idea is to build an intermodal network with an Italian center in Mantua (with the Port of Mantua-Valdaro) and a Bulgarian center in TEZ. The project will connect Western Europe with the Balkans, with various intermodal platforms to be created in Plovdiv, Burgas, Sofia, Vidin and Ruse, forming a Bulgarian multi-hub. "Through this intermodal project we are effectively building Pan-European Corridor 8, connecting Varna to Bari in Italy, through North Macedonia and Albania", said Panchev. The project will also connect with the Pan-European Corridor 7, thus making Bulgaria an important hub for connection between the different regions of the continent and for their natural projection towards Asia and the Middle East.

According to the TEZ, nearly 5,000 (80%) of all Italian companies present in Bulgaria have headquarters, production and sales offices in the Italian regions of Piedmont, Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. The Lombardy region has 10 million inhabitants and contributes EUR 442 billion to the Italian economy, equal to 24.7% of the Italian GDP. On the other hand, Bulgaria is in a strategic logistical position in the Balkan Danube Region. 75% of road and rail freight traffic from Turkey passes through Bulgaria to Northern Italy and Western Europe.