Russia proposes construction of highway around Black Sea

Russia proposed on Wednesday, September 27, at the session from Soci of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSECO), the construction of a highway around Black Sea and to improve the sea traffic in the region, the Russian news agency Interfax informs, cited by Info-Prim Neo. “Both proposals were approved. “I hope they will be ratified by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of BSCEO member countries until the end of Russia’s mandate as chairman”, Igor Levitin, the Russian minister of Transports declared. The project propsed by Russia includes the construction of 7 100 kilometers of highway which will link Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. According to the project the highway will cross through the following cities Stambul-Samsun-Trabzon (Turkey) – Batumi-Poti (Georgia) – Novorossiisk-Rostov-pe-Don-Taganrog (Russia) – Mariupol-Melitopol-Odesa (Ukraine) – Chişinău – Bucureşti – Haskovo (Bulgaria) –Edirne-Stambul (Turkey) - Komotini-Aleksandropolis (Greece) – Stambul (Turkey). The project will be financed through the national budgets of member countries and loans from the European Bank for Investments, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and by the Salonic-based Black Sea Bank. Improvement of the sea traffic in the Black Sea region involves simplifying cooperation between the ports administrated by BSECO member states. The members of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization are Azerbaijan, Armenia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.