Bulgaria and Turkey Mark Significant Progress in the Transportation Area
29.01.2010
Today, the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Aleksandar Tsvetkov presented at a press conference the results from the 22nd Council of the Bulgarian-Turkish Committee on Transport which took place earlier this week in Ankara. During the two-day work of the Committee, discussions were held regarding the state and perspectives in the railway, marine, aviation and automobile areas. In the area of automobile transportation, a quota was determined for the number of permits issued for all transit and bilateral transportation. An increase of 40% (from 12 500 to 17 000) of the number of quotas of the empty-full type (this is a permit for cargo automobiles which enter the territory of a foreign country load their freight there and unload them in Bulgaria). An increase of 100% in the number of quotas was reached for the permits for/from a third country. The representatives of the trade associations expressed their content with the results from the negotiations as 80% of their demands were fulfilled. In the area of marine transportation, Bulgaria and Turkey reached an agreement on developing the ferry connections by having regular service between Varna and the Turkish Black Sea ports of Samsun and Zonguldak. In the area of railway transportation, the agreement reached was regarding the cooperation in the combined transportation between the two countries including the available service for loading trucks on trains. The Republic of Turkey emphasized its readiness to join Bulgaria in the project to develop this type of service for the line Svilengrad-Dragoman. This will facilitate the transportation of some heavy loads passing through Bulgaria. In the aviation area, the two countries agreed on increasing the flights' number and network between Bulgaria and Turkey. There will be direct flights to four cities in Turkey (Ankara, Istanbul, Bursa and Izmir) from Bulgaria (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas). All limitations are removed for cargo loads. At the end of the meeting, Minister Aleksandar Tsvetkov said that the negotiations with the Republic of Turkey were successful. They reflected the readiness and the political will of the two countries to cooperate in finding solutions to crucial transportation problems and are a good example of the development of bilateral diplomatic relations. For additional information:
Kostadin Vardev, Press Centre,
Ministry of Transport, Information Technology
and Communications
Phone: + 359 2 940 96 20
E-Mail: kvardev@mtitc.government.bg |