March 2006 – Bulgaria, Italy, Albania and Fyrom agreed to speed up the
construction of Pan-European Transport Corridor 8, Sofia News Agency
reports.

Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev welcomed Albanian Minister of Public Works, Transport and Telecommunications Lulzim Basha, Fyrom Minister of Transport and Communications Xhemail Mehazi and Italian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Pitero Lunardi.

They are in Bulgaria’s second city Plovdiv on the special invitation of Bulgaria’s Transport Minister Petar Mutafchiev.

The Prime Minister and his guests reconfirmed their governments’ determination to construct an efficient transport system, integrated railway, motorways and ports throughout the country, covering the Pan-European Corridor.

At the meeting, the participants presented the progress made in different sectors of Corridor No8.

The initiative for the construction of West-East Transport Corridor on the axis Italy – Albania – Fyrom – Bulgaria and the connection with the countries from the Caucasian Region and the Middle East was launched in 1990.

Later, Turkey and Greece joined the initiative.

At the second Pan-European Conference of Ministers of Transport, held in Crete in 1994, Corridor 8 was included in the system of Pan-European Transport Corridors.

The location of the corridor guarantees its interaction with another three Pan-European Corridors.

In Bulgaria, the Corridor is connected with Corridor 4, Corridor 9 and Corridor 10.

A memorandum for understanding concerning the development of Pan-European Transport Corridor No8 was signed in Bari, Italy on 9 September 2002 with a view to establishing the regulatory framework for cooperation between Albania, Bulgaria, Fyrom, Turkey, Greece, Italy and the European Commission on the construction and commissioning of Corridor 8.

The total length of Pan-European Transport Corridor 8 is between 1220 and 1350 km. 631 km of motorway and 747 km of railway will be in Bulgaria.

Source: Sofia News Agency

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