Transport

International road transport between Bulgaria and Montenegro is being liberalized. This was announced by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Rosen Jeliazkov, after signing a treaty with the Montenegrin Minister of Transport and Maritime Affairs Osman Nurkovic today. The document is the first in the field of transport between the two countries, the Bulgarian Minister added.

With its active role as organizer of international initiatives, Bulgaria has won the privilege to host one of the most significant events for Europe in 2020 - the Regional Cyber ​​Security Forum. This was announced by the Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications Rossen Jeliazkov to the participants in the World Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors of the World Federation of Consuls held in Sofia. According to him, the upcoming event strengthens the image of our country as being strongly committed to building a sustainable cybernetic environment.

"Bulgaria is working to create a cybersecurity ecosystem and develop a holistic vision. This approach will foster trust between businesses and citizens and can cope with fragmentation between countries and regions, "the minister said.

Minister Rossen Jeliazkov predicts that by 2020 the number of connected devices will reach tens of billions. "Our goal is to encourage the use of digital services to overcome the digital divide. At the same time, cyber security is critical because modern systems can be seriously affected by incidents such as technical malfunctions and viruses, "he said.

Minister Jeliazkov reminded that the state has made significant investments in modern optical infrastructure. Over 7,000 km of backbone network is used by the state administration to provide secure and innovative electronic services. The goal is that by 2025 all schools, transport centers and major public service providers, as well as digitally-intensive businesses, will be able to use the Internet at a rate of one GB per second. In addition, all households should have access to networks that provide a speed of at least 100 Mbps. Main roads and railways must have continuous 5G wireless broadband coverage, starting with providing this service in at least one major city in any EU member state by 2020.

In front of the participants, Minister Rossen Jeliazkov presented the priorities in the transport infrastructure in Bulgaria. He stressed that our country works with neighboring countries in the implementation of a number of infrastructure projects, which is in line with the development of the Trans-European Transport Network.

The Bulgarian and Iranian aviation authorities will negotiate an amendment to the current air transport agreement and the future direct line between the two countries. This is one of the results of the Intergovernmental Bulgarian-Iranian Commission on Economic, Scientific, Trade and Technical Cooperation, held on 18 and 19 April in Sofia, the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Rossen Jeliazkov announced during the closing session. He pointed out that a meeting of the Joint Committee on International Road Transport was held within the session.

Bulgaria has the ambition to become a supercomputer center in Eastern Europe and can be a partner of Armenia in high-speed connectivity projects. This was stated by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Rossen Jeliazkov at a meeting with his Armenian counterpart, Hakob Arshakyan. The conversation is part of the program of the eighth meeting of the Bulgarian-Armenian intergovernmental commission for economic and scientific-technical cooperation in Yerevan, which is headed by Minister Jeliazkov.

By 2025, we will build the rail connection with Northern Macedonia. This was announced by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Rossen Jeliazkov at the first meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation between the two countries, which took place yesterday and today in Skopje. The Commission is chaired by Minister Rossen Jeliazkov and Minister of Economy of the Republic of Northern Macedonia Kreshnik Bekteshi.

Next year will be crucial for the implementation of large projects financed under OP Transport and Transport Infrastructure, stated the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Rossen Jeliazkov, at the 10th session of the OP Monitoring committee, 29-30.11.2018 in the town of Pravets.

Modern infrastructure is essential for providing logistics services, so both the government and businesses are working to develop an integrated, modern and sustainable transport system. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications Dimitar Genovsky before the participants in the Sixth Logistics Business Conference. "A good indicator of the success of our efforts is the growth in shipments of goods and people in recent years. In 2017, 136.7 million tonnes of freight and 748.5 million passengers were transported, "he added.

Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Anguel Popov together with the M.P. from the respective select committee, Stanislav Ivanov, the Executive Director of Executive Agency “Automobile Administration”, Boyko Ranovski and experts from the Agency hold a meeting with the representatives of the technical services on verification of the vehicles’ reliability. The main topic of the discussion was the forthcoming amendment to the Road Transport Act concerning the technological proposals on the mandatory requirement for equipment of buses with safety belts.

Diving teams from Hydroremont Varna and Deep Dive Systems Ltd. Sofia examine the sunken ship near Sozopol, which has been polluting the bay with oil for several days. Divers from Sozopol volunteered in the operation. The collected data will be used to draw up a technical proposal to drain the fuel. The various possibilities are to be proposed and discussed within a few days.

Meanwhile, EA “Maritime Administration” provided a cutter and tugboat that are in the vicinity of the containment area and are relocated depending on the change in the wind and currents direction.

The minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Ivaylo Moskovski, inspected the area of the oil spill near the town of Sozopol. The team onboard of EA Maritime Administration’s cutter monitored the measures to contain the oil spill and discussed further measures.

The oil spill in the region of Sozopol is under control, there is no danger neither for environment, nor for the tourists, stated the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Ivaylo Moskovski, and the Minister of Environment and Waters, Nino Dimov, at a briefing following a meeting of Burgas Regional Administration Operational Team.

Two teams of EA "Automobile Administration" are at the scene of the accident with a bus on “Trakia” motorway and another team of inspectors has been sent to the office of the transport company "Union Ivkoni". This was announced by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Ivaylo Moskovski in a joint briefing with the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Nikolay Nankov. The two ministers expressed condolences to the relatives of those who died in today's accident.

We would not allow awarding procedures at BDZ or any other state enterprise through the media, said the Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Velik Zanchev addressing public statements made by private companies that participate in engine repair tender procedures.

Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the EU in a period with very intensive digital agenda. This was stated by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Ivaylo Moskovski during the hearing at the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) - European Parliament.    

The Bulgarian experience in issuing international transport permits (CEMT) was highly appreciated during a meeting of the International Road Transport Group at the International Transport Forum (ITF) held on October 12-13, 2017 in Moscow. During the forum, discussions were launched on determine the ECMT/CEMT permits allocation approach after 2019.

Krassimir Srebrov is the new Executive Director of the Road Transport Administration (RTA) Executive Agency. He took this position after a request by the former head of the Agency, Krasimir Kalaidjiev, for his release because of reaching retirement age.

We have invested 70 mil. BGN for the rehabilitation of the 26 km long railway section from Skutare to Orizovo, stated Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Velik Zanchev during the ground breaking ceremony of the section. In his words, construction activities should finish by the beginning of 2019 and hence the trains could travel at speed between 130 and 160 km/h. He said that Belozem railway station will be also modernized within a year and a half.

Bulgaria and Greece have agreed to extend the multimodal transport corridor between the two countries connecting the ports of Varna, Bourgas, Kavala and Alexandroupolis during a meeting between the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Ivaylo Moskovski and the Greek Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Spirtzis.

Concessions are good form of governance, as the assets remain state-owned, and in the same time is invested in them. That stated the Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Velik Zanchev during the eighteenth discussion of the campaign “Yes! To the Bulgarian Economy”, which took place in Plovdiv.

At the present stage, two procedures for granting to a concession of sites of the transport infrastructure are being conducted at MTITC – for Plovdiv Airport and for Plovdiv Intermodal Terminal.

The European Commission (EC) approved the Bulgarian support measures in favor of BDZ. Brussels found that the measures are in line with the European Union (EU) state aid rules. It has become clear today by the received official notification from the Commission.