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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Memorandum on construction of Black Sea round highway to be signed on April 19 in Belgrade

Belgrade, 13 March 2007

Serbian Minister of Capital Investment Velimir Ilic announced today that a ministerial conference of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) will be held in Belgrade on April 19, when two memoranda of understanding will be signed.

Author: Fonet

Ilic stressed that the memoranda include the memorandum on construction of Black Sea round highway and the memorandum on Black Sea roads.

The Minister said that BSEC working group for transport is holding a semi-annual meeting in Belgrade and added that BSEC has 12 permanent member countries, including Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and the Ukraine whereas nine countries are observer members.

According to Ilic, BSEC represents a region of some 350 million people spanning nearly 20 million square kilometres.

He explained that with a view of promoting the Black Sea highway project, a caravan of 12 trucks from every member state will be set up.

These trucks will travel on the highway route and acquire information on various problems people encounter when crossing the border as well as on the road, Ilic said.

He added that the Serbian government and its Ministry of Capital Investment are backing these projects and noted that Corridor 10 which will directly join this ring-highway is particularly important for Serbia.

The Minister also said that a decision will be made this week on whether the concession contract for the Horgos-Pozega highway will be signed with the Spanish-Austrian consortium or the second ranked company PORR.

The deadline given to the consortium of FCC and Alpina Mayreder for additional consultation expires tomorrow and if they do not sign the already initialed agreement, the government will invite the second bidder for talks, Ilic said.

BSEC Secretary General Leonidas Chrysanthopoulos said that the signing of the two memoranda in Belgrade will be a historic event which will promote the economic and tourism cooperation of BSEC countries, noting that this highway will be over 7,000 kilometres long.

Chrysanthopoulos said that the 12-truck caravan will set off from Belgrade right after the ministerial meeting and the signing of the two memoranda, adding that the presidency over BSEC will thus end and demonstrate to all that it has been a productive and successful one.

In the upcoming period, every country should work out an estimate both on the funds needed for the construction of the highway section that runs through its territory and on the funds that might be set aside from the budget for this purpose, said BSEC Secretary General.

He added that as for the remaining portion of the funds needed for the construction of the Black Sea highway, assistance will be sought from international financial organisations.

General Delegate of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) Haydar Ozkan said that the caravan will travel for 40 days and on May 30th will conclude its journey in Istanbul, where BSEC headquarters are situated.