The agreement proposed by Bulgaria for the construction of the tunnel on the border between North Macedonia and Bulgaria from the railway line, part of Corridor 8, “must clearly list the obligations of the parties”, said the Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia Hristijan Mickoski, quoted by BTA.
The draft agreement was reviewed at a government meeting in Skopje a week ago, and a working group was also appointed from the ministers of foreign affairs, transport, finance and the director of the Railway Infrastructure of North Macedonia. Mickoski expects the Bulgarian side to form “the same high-level group to start working on this issue”.
According to the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, the agreement should list the commitments.
”And they are that the Macedonian side assumes the obligation to build the section from Kriva Palanka to the entrance of the tunnel (”Deve Bair” on the border with Bulgaria). The tunnel must have an entrance and an exit and will be a joint project. Then (Bulgaria) should build the section from Gyueshevo to the connection with the national railway, these are two or three kilometers and then Bulgaria should request funds from the EU or I don't know how, a loan or whatever, with which to modernize the section from there (Gyueshevo) to Sofia, so that it has functional integrity. To summarize – "A clear commitment, a clear dedication from the Bulgarian side to what they signed in Washington - a priority for Corridor 8" is needed, Mickoski told journalists today, after a meeting at the MP's Club in Skopje.
In July last year, at the NATO Summit in Washington, a letter of intent was signed to build harmonized military mobility corridors between Italy, Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria within the framework of Pan-European Transport Corridor No. 8, as well as between Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, the aim of which is to contribute to increasing NATO's deterrence and defense potential, cooperation between the countries in the field of military mobility, strengthening transport connectivity between them as a key factor in stimulating the economic development of the region, as well as deepening cooperation between NATO and the EU.
Mickoski said that “talks should be held with the Albanian government to see how they plan to build the section from Durres to the border with (North) Macedonia, because the Corridor 8 project should connect the Black Sea with the Adriatic Sea".
„If someone thinks that Corridor 8 is about spending half a billion euros to connect Kriva Palanka and Kumanovo, it is not so. I want to see a project in which we will really spend money, your money, on the people, but at least we will have some benefit from it, that is, you will get something”, said Mickoski.
The transnational transport axis East-West (Corridor 8) stretches from the port of Bari in Italy through Albania and North Macedonia to the ports of Varna and Burgas in Bulgaria. The central part of this pan-European corridor passes through North Macedonia - Kichevo, Skopje, Kumanovo, Belyakovce and Kriva Palanka. However, there are no connections at the western end (from Kičevo to the Albanian border) and at the eastern end (from Kumanovo to the Bulgarian border), part of which (from Kumanovo to Belyakovce) was put into operation on January 17.
The agreement proposed by Bulgaria concerns the construction of the tunnel on the border between the two countries, and North Macedonia must build the second and third parts of the route - from Belyakovce to Kriva Palanka and from Kriva Palanka to the Bulgarian border.