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Albania calls for reassessment of railway project connecting Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria

Xinhua, March 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

Albanian Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Edmond Haxhinasto said Wednesday there was a consensus for the establishment of a transport network across the Balkan region.

But the minister called for a reassessment of the railway connection of Albania's port of Durres, Macedonia's Skopje and Bulgaria's Sofia as part of the Corridor 8 project, which was backed by the Macedonian minister during the meeting of Foreign Ministers and Ministers of Transport of the Western Balkans countries, which has taken place in Pristina.

According to Albanian Daily News, the ministers agreed upon a transport network, which will link the region's capitals, economic centers and main ports by 2030.

The network includes the Adriatic-Ionian motorway which will link Croatia to Greece via Albania, the port of Durres, the railway that will link Albania to Montenegro as well as the Corridor 8 project, which is meant to link Durres to the Adriatic coast to Varna at the Bulgarian Black Sea coast.

Proposals about this network shall be presented during the Vienna Summit on Aug. 27, 2015, as priority projects, which will assure interconnectivity and economic growth for the region.

"I appreciate the progress of the regional cooperation process and such meeting formats, which have enabled a better cooperation in the Balkans," said Albanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ditmir Bushati.

"Because of the financial crisis of the Euro zone, financial instruments for infrastructural projects in Southern and South-eastern Europe have not been made available. Alongside the realistic methodology of the European Commission for infrastructural connectivity in the Western Balkans, European institutions should work for a development package of the region," said the foreign minister. Endi