Bulgaria and North Macedonia reaffirmed their commitment to completing the missing railway sections of Corridor VIII. At a meeting in Brussels, organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood (DG ENEST), representatives of the transport ministries of both countries held bilateral discussions.
The Bulgarian side presented a roadmap for the completion of Corridor VIII on Bulgarian territory, outlining key milestones. These included the relaunch by the Republic of North Macedonia of the construction tender for the section between Kriva Palanka and the entrance to the cross-border tunnel, scheduled for the end of 2025. For the missing 2.4 km section on the Bulgarian side of the border – from Gyueshevo to the entrance of the cross-border tunnel, as well as the Pernik–Radomir line, all necessary documentation to launch the construction procedures has been prepared and submitted to the Public Procurement Agency for approval.
On the joint project to build the cross-border tunnel between Gyueshevo and Deve Bair, both countries agreed to establish working groups to finalise, by the end of July, the draft intergovernmental agreement proposed by Bulgaria on 15 January 2025. The signing of the agreement is expected this autumn, which would pave the way for construction works to begin. However, the Bulgarian delegation expressed concern that no formal comments have yet been received from the Republic of North Macedonia on the draft agreement for the tunnel project. This, they noted, could jeopardise the signing process. The Bulgarian side stressed the importance of receiving feedback and proposed amendments, if any, from its south-western neighbour as soon as possible.
During the meeting, both sides committed to exploring the most appropriate options for applying for funding from the EU or other financial institutions for the joint construction of the tunnel.
Participants from the Bulgarian side included Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Lyuben Nanov, Chief of Staff to the Minister of Transport and Communications, Ms Katerina Gramatikova-Ivanova, and Director General of the National Railway Infrastructure Company (NRIC), Mr Alexander Vetskov. The North Macedonian delegation was represented by Mr Stefan Volkanovski, State Secretary at the Ministry of Transport, and Mr Sinisa Ivanovski, Director of the national railway infrastructure company.