01.11.2023

“The North-South connection plays a key role for the sustainable infrastructure and connectivity in Southeast Europe with the construction of a highway that will connect Greece and Romania through Bulgaria. We hope that the procedures will be finalised as soon as possible and the project will be completed within five years”, the Finance Minister Assen Vassilev said during his participation in the first international Southeast Europe Connectivity Forum in Thessaloniki. This highway will complete the connectivity map providing an exit from Bulgaria’s ports to the Mediterranean. He recalled that the old route connecting the northern countries through the Balkans was between Vienna and Istanbul, but today a new connection was needed along the North-South axis to the Mediterranean.

The project for the new corridor was also discussed in early October by the prime ministers of Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, i.e. Nikolay Denkov, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Ion-Marcel Ciolacu, at the Euxinograd residence near Varna, and concerns the connectivity from Thessaloniki via Kavala, Alexandroupolis, Burgas and Varna to Constanta.

Minister Assen Vassilev announced in Thessaloniki today that the budget for this corridor included a guarantee of six billion euro and a consortium of contractors was expected to be chosen to take over its construction. Asked about the financing of the project, the Finance Minister said that our country would request funds from the European Union to compensate for the costs, but would not suspend the implementation of the project. “This is very important for trade among the countries, especially after the war in Ukraine and what is happening in Gaza”, Mr. Vassilev pointed out.

He said that he hoped that another key project of importance for the connectivity between Bulgaria and Greece. i.e. the Western Corridor (Struma Highway), would be completed as soon as possible. Works on half of the missing 15 kilometres of the highway will be completed in early 2024. As far as the remaining half is concerned, the Commission’s opinion on environmental issues surrounding the project is awaited.

Another focus of the speech of the Bulgarian Finance Minister was the Burgas-Alexandroupolis pipeline, which includes two sections – one for crude oil and one for oil products. “The idea is to use the interconnector as much as possible and we are making a feasibility study to be able to make this connection”, he said and pointed out that the pipeline was very important in geopolitical terms because of the war in Ukraine, but clarified that geopolitics did not have to be the only reason, if there was no commercial motive.

SGT Tsomokos, in strategic partnership with the Port of Thessaloniki Authority (ThPA), are the organisers of the Southeast Europe Connectivity Forum.  The event is under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Hellenic Ministry of Shipping and Island Policy, the Hellenic Logistics Company and the Greek Exporters Association.

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