Transport

The Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov and the Minister of Interior Kalin Stoyanov held an urgent meeting with the Bulgarian Ambassador in Bucharest H.E. Radko Vlaykov to discuss the situation with the crossing of the border checkpoints Vidin—Calafat and Ruse—Giurgiu and to identify measures to solve the problem.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works will work together to solve the problems in the transport sector. The development of the sector is among the priorities in the management of Ministers Georgi Gvozdeykov and Andrey Tsekov. The two have already held several meetings on the subject.

Early next week, they will hold talks with representatives of the freight and bus industries to discuss the top priority tasks they will work on together in the medium term.

Orders are expected to be launched again in a month

More than EUR 1.5 billion will be invested under the Transport Connectivity Programme 2021—2027, which will finance various modes of environmentally friendly transport in Bulgaria. This is what the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov said in his speech today at the Green Week 2023 Forum: The Green Transition in Central and Eastern European Countries 2023.

Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov met in Sofia with Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure of Kosovo Liburn Aliu. Minister Gvozdeykov pointed out that transport policies and connectivity are at the heart of economic growth and deepening trade relations between the countries in the region. He stressed that Bulgaria will support at the European Union level any initiative for the development of transport connectivity in the region.

The introduction of green transport will be among my top priorities, said the new Minister of Transport and Communications Eng. Georgi Gvozdeykov at the ceremony of acceptance of the management by the former head of the institution Hristo Alexiev. The work on the recovery plan for Bulgarian Posts and the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan projects are the other important tasks for the new team. Georgi Gvozdeykov stressed that it is important to quickly resolve the issues with the contested orders for the supply of new rolling stock for the railway transport.

The connectivity of the Balkans is important in order to meet the new challenges of the military conflict in Ukraine, the countries of the region can give solutions that are also applicable to Western Europe. This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev during the Delphi Economic Forum, which is being held in Greece.

Bulgaria and Georgia will develop the potential of the Black Sea as an alternative to land transport corridors between Asia and Europe and to digital connectivity networks. This was stated at a meeting today by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev and the new Ambassador of Georgia to our country Otar Berdzenishvili.

The full use of the potential of the Black Sea and the Bulgarian ports is extremely important for the transportation of goods from Asia to Europe. This was the general opinion during a video conferencing between the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev and the Minister of Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Finland Ville Skinnari.

Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Krasimir Papukchiyski and Turkish Ambassador Aylin Sekizkök sent the second freight train with 36 prefabricated houses for the severely affected by the earthquake in Turkey.

The train departed at 5:00 p.m. from the Central Railway Station in Sofia. The transportation is provided on two courses along the Kurilo - Svilengrad East Border - Kapukule - Halkali Station - Svilengrad, and the carrier is BDZ Freight Transport EOOD. The first composition that delivered the first 12 wagons with 36 houses left to Turkey on March 7, 2023.

For first time in 50 years, a new railway tunnel was built in Bulgaria. This is what the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev stated during an inspection of progress in the construction of the Elin Pelin - Kostenets Railway Section.

The development of direct transport connections was discussed at the video conference meeting between the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The talks were headed by Deputy Ministers Nikolay Naydenov and Rahman Hummatov with the participation of representatives of civil aviation administrations, port operators, road transport administrations, railway carriers and Sofia Airport. H.E. Mr.

Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolay Naydenov transferred the mandate of the Chairmanship of TRACECA Intergovernmental Commission (TRACECA) to Georgia. The organization's sixteenth annual meeting is being held in Tbilisi, Georgia.

On the initiative of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev, under the leadership of Deputy Minister Nikolay Naydenov and together with the DG Civil Aviation Administration, a Working Group was formed to establish a mechanism for coordinating the configuration of U-space air space. U-space is the European system being developed for unmanned drone traffic management. It is a set of specific digital services and procedures designed to provide drone operators with safe and efficient access to airspace.

The motor ship Vera Su was auctioned today. This is the fourth bidding procedure that the Maritime Administration Executive Agency organized. One company participated in the auction today - "Varsa Shipping" OOD, which offered to buy the vessel at the announced starting price - 276,000 US dollars without VAT.

The Bulgarian company deals with repairs and maintenance of vessels. The buyer has transferred 10 percent of the price as a deposit, the submitted documents have been verified and meet the requirements and criteria.

The intermodal Transport Corridor Thessaloniki-Kavala-Alexandroupolis-Burgas-Varna-Ruse will soon not be just an ambitious plan, we are determined to make it a reality. This was the common statement expressed at a meeting today between the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev and the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport of Greece Kostas Karamanlis. Rail and road connectivity, as well as cooperation between Bulgarian and Greek ports, was the main topic of the discussions.

Bulgaria and Turkey have taken additional measures to ease the heavy traffic through the border crossing points. These efforts would continue, but alternatives related to rail and water transport of goods and cargo would also be sought. The goal was to increase the number of operating intermodal trains from 7 to 22. This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev after a meeting with the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of the Republic of Turkey Adil Karaismailoglu.

The EC is open to asses  proposals to co-financing the design and construction of a third bridge on the Danube River at Ruse and Giurgiu and the second phase of the Fast Danube 2 navigability improvement project.

This became clear during a video conference between Transport Commissioner Adina Vălean and the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policies and Minister of Transport and Communications, Hristo Alexiev.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications announces competitions for the selection of members of the Management Authorities in 9 Public Enterprises. Competitions are announced for enterprises in which, at the moment, members of the management bodies have been appointed without a competition procedure.

Munich Airport will have an active role and commitment to Sofia Airport development project. This became clear during the meeting of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Hristo Alexiev with the President and CEO of Munich Airport Jost Lammers, as well as with the CEO of Sofia Airport Jesus Caballero.