site.btaSkopje Sets Up Working Group of Ministers to Review Bulgaria's Proposal on Common Railway Tunnel within Corridor 8

North Macedonia has set up a working group of ministers to work on reviewing Bulgaria's proposal for an agreement on the preparation, construction and operation of a cross-border railway tunnel along Corridor VII, reads a press release of North Macedonia's Ministry of Transport. The working group includes the ministers of transport, of foreign affairs and foreign trade and of finance, as well as the director of North Macedonia's railway infrastructure, Sinisha Ivanovski. According to the press release, "the government is strongly committed to the construction and modernization of European transport corridors, including Corridor VIII."

"The aim of the government through the Ministry of Transport is to continue the construction of the eastern part (on the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia) of the railway Corridor VIII and to connect it with Bulgaria. But we reiterate the government's position: for the railway to function, for Corridor VIII to make sense and to meet the needs for which it is intended, there must be a joint project for the tunnel (on the border) with Bulgaria and construction must be carried out jointly within the framework of the entire project. On the Bulgarian side, it is also necessary to complete the missing railway line to the border crossing, as well as to upgrade the railway line from Gyueshevo to Sofia. (North) Macedonia, for its part, will revise the cost (of the project)," the message said.

On December 30, 2024, the Bulgarian caretaker cabinet approved a draft agreement between the Republic of Bulgaria and the Republic of North Macedonia for the construction and operation of the Deve Bair cross-border railway tunnel. The agreement aims to establish clear commitments and timelines for building the railway link between the two countries. Bulgaria’s Transport and Communications Ministry, as a party to the agreement, proposes that both sides take concrete steps toward the realization of the railway tunnel, which will serve as a critical link between the neighbouring states. The agreement includes provisions for establishing a Joint Committee to coordinate all activities related to the construction and operation of the Deve Bair tunnel.

The transnational East-West transport axis (Corridor 8) extends from the port of Bari in Italy to the ports of Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria. The central part of this pan-European corridor passes through North Macedonia - Kichevo, Skopje, Kumanovo, Beljakovtse and Kriva Palanka. However, there are missing links at the western end (from Kichevo to the Albanian border) and at the eastern end (from Kumanovo to the Bulgarian border), part of which (from Kumanovo to Beljakovtse) was put into operation on January 17.