The Ministry of Transport and Communications will host a ministerial conference to accelerate transport connectivity projects along the North-South axis. This was discussed by Grozdan Karadzhov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications, and Apostolos Tzitzikostas, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism. The discussion took place within the framework of the informal meeting of transport ministers of the European Union, which is being held today in Poland.
“We will invite all countries from the Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Aegean Sea corridor, as well as the European Commission, to Sofia in order to focus on the challenges related to the lack of sufficient bridges and tunnels, missing railway and road sections, including such with insufficient capacity. This is a serious obstacle to the effortless passage of cargo and goods and it is important to speed up the construction of the missing sections,” said Deputy Prime Minister Karadzhov during the meeting with the European Commissioner.
“Investments in dual-use infrastructure are crucial for strengthening economies and security,” said the Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister during the first session of the informal meeting of the EU Council. He highlighted that future programmes should integrate these projects into their criteria and the public procurement rules for them should be simplified. “Funding from the Connecting Europe Facility for military mobility should be increased without reducing funds for transport,” added Grozdan Karadzhov.
In the panel dedicated to cybersecurity in transport, the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that strengthening strategic cooperation between Member States, competent authorities and the industry is crucial. “The sharing of information, the implementation of best European practices and the joint development of innovative solutions will be crucial to minimising risks,” he added.
