site.btaTransport Ministers of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania Sign Joint Declaration on Coordinated Action for Corridor VIII Construction

Transport Ministers of Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania Sign Joint Declaration on Coordinated Action for Corridor VIII Construction

Sofia, October 31 (BTA) - Transport, IT and Communications
Minister Nikolina Angelkova told journalists that her
counterparts from Macedonia and Albania and she signed a Joint
Declaration on Cooperation in the preparation and construction
of all road facilities of Transport Corridor VIII. This took
place at Friday's Conference entitled "The Balkans:
Infrastructure and Transport Links between the Black and
Adriatic Seas" held in Sofia.

Angelkova said: "We concurred that it is necessary to lobby
before the European Commission for the inclusion of Corridor
VIII into the Central European transport network."

The three ministers agreed to hold a ministerial every year to
make informed decisions on the project, to name a joint
coordinator and set up a working group to coordinate the
countries' actions.

Macedonia's Transport and Communications Minister Mile
Janakieski said his country has the political will to build the
railway linking Skopje and Sofia as part of Railway Corridor
VIII. He said the first of three stretches of the route to
Bulgaria is under construction. The project's deadline is 2022.
Macedonia expects to get the rest of the financing from the
World Bank.

Albania's Transport and Infrastructure Minister Edmond
Haxhinasto said Corridor VIII is very important for the
development of the individual countries and the region as a
whole. He said the three countries took a common approach to the
promotion of the individual projects for its construction.
Friday's initiative will raise awareness about Corridor VIII,
including Europe's awareness, so that the EU can provide the
rest of the financing needed to complete the project.

The Albanian Minister added that since it is a multimodal
corridor, an optical communication network along its route is
one further option.

Haxhinasto added that the 3-kilometre stretch of railway to the
border with Macedonia and the modernization of the remainder
would be done at the same time, and in coordination with
Macedonia.

Angelkova recalled that the transport route Bari/Brindisi -
Durres/Vlore - Tirana - Skopje - Sofia - Bourgas/Varna provides
one of the shortest cuts from Southern Europe and the
Mediterranean through the Balkans to Caucasus and the Far East.
"Given the importance of this corridor, we have tried to defend
the inclusion of most of the route in the main Trans European
Network. The route linking Sofia, Radomir and Gyueshevo (on
Bulgaria's border with Macedonia) is part of Operational
Programme Transport and Transport Infrastructure for the
2014-2020 programming period," she said. Work is under way on
modern railway infrastructure linking Sofia and Plovdiv with
Bourgas/Varna. As to road infrastructure, construction of the
Trakia Motorway has been successfully completed.