“Bulgaria currently has one major border crossing with Turkey, which is extremely congested and plagued by continuous queues stretching for kilometres. We are now beginning the construction of a high-speed road corridor from Burgas to Malko Tarnovo, as well as a new railway line from Yambol via Lesovo to Turkey.” This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications, Grozdan Karadjov, during the “Global Forum for Transport Connectivity 2025”, taking place in Istanbul. The forum is being attended by ministers and government delegations from over 70 countries, and was officially opened by the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
During the forum, the Deputy Prime Minister Karadjov stated that, thanks to its strategic geographic location, Bulgaria lies along the vital Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor. “Bulgaria must modernise its ports in order to become an integral part of this key transport route,” Karadjov explained. “In addition to building new infrastructure, we are also focusing on the modernisation of existing facilities. With the support of the World Bank, we will develop the Port of Varna through a public–private partnership. This will not only increase the port’s capacity, but also open the way for the Middle Corridor to pass through Bulgaria,” Grozdan Karadjov emphasised.
The Deputy Prime Minister underlined that strong transport connectivity is essential both in times of peace and in times of crisis. In this context, Bulgaria is making significant efforts to modernise and expand its infrastructure, as part of its strategic role in the region.
Mr Karadjov also held a bilateral meeting with Ms Antonella Bassani, Vice President of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia. “We have defined a list of projects in Bulgaria to be developed through public–private partnerships. For these, we will seek cooperation with leading international financial institutions,” Deputy Prime Minister Karadjov stated. Among the road infrastructure projects on the list are the Black Sea and Rila motorways, as well as the construction of a tunnel through Petrohan. “In the railway sector, we are including three tunnels through the Balkan Mountains and the doubling of the Plovdiv–Svilengrad line. The ports along the Danube will also be included in the public–private partnership programme,” he added.
On the first day of the forum, Deputy Prime Minister Karadjov held meetings with the Ministers of Transport of Montenegro and Egypt, during which the parties discussed opportunities to strengthen cooperation in the transport sector.
