Bulgaria could become a bridge for Chinese cargo and open the "New Silk Road"(One Belt One Road Initiative) to Central and Western Europe, said Transport Minister Ivaylo Moskovski in response to a question on the Trans-Caspian transport corridor, reports Bgnes.

The Minister reminded , that on November 7, 2013, the leaders of three of the leading companies in the region - "National Kazakh Company Temer Zolly AD, Azerbaijani Railways AD and Georgian Railways JSC are united around the idea of ​​establishing a Coordination Committee for the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route in order to increase the freight flows between Europe and Asia. an initiative of transport companies from China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to transport cargo from China to Europe and back on the Trans-Caspian route surrounding Russia.

In April 2016, KTZ Express, ADY Express, GR Logistics and Terminals, Azerbaijan Caspian Ship Company AD and ADY Container signed an agreement to set up an International Trans-Caspian Transport Consortium with the following tasks: developing logistics products with a high degree of customer orientation, searching for customers both to the east and west to increase the efficiency of using the available rolling stock, organizing and monitoring the container transport of TMTM; establishing a long-term partnership with foreign partners in the main trading countries of the Consortium, attracting more freight traffic to use the TMTM and its services In December 2016, a decision was taken to establish an International Trans-Spanish International Transport Route Association , which began operating in February next year. The members of the Association are commercial or non-commercial organizations interested in cooperation with the Association and can support its development. Membership of the Association is three types: permanent member, associate member and partner. Each member has to pay a fee for examining documents, the permanent one it is 1000 USD, and for the associate - 300 USD. Once membership has been approved, annual contributions should be paid - for permanent members, 77,500 USD, and for associates - 22,500 USD.

From the beginning of 2016, BDZ - Freight Transports Ltd. has been negotiating to join the project for the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, thanks to its strategic geographic location, Bulgaria could become a bridge for Chinese cargoes and open " New Silk Road" to Central and Western Europe, Moskovski says.

In the course of the negotiations and the letter sent by BDZ - Freight Transports EOOD for intent on the connection of the company to the Consortium, in the period 4-5 July 2016, "BDZ - Freight Transport" EOOD hosted a working meeting of the Coordination Committee of TMTM, which was held in Varna. In the Bulgarian side there were representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, the ports of Varna and Burgas, "Maritime Navigation".

The meeting was attended by representatives of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan (rail and sea carriers, logistics companies). For the purpose of acquainting with the opportunities of the Bulgarian ports, visits to ferryboat complex Varna, port of Varna and port of Burgas (Port Bulgaria West and BMF Port) were organized within the meeting. In order to develop the cooperation with the participants in the project, representatives of BDZ - Freight Transport EOOD took part in various initiatives, within which the potential of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route was presented.

In 2017 BDZ - Freight Transports Ltd received an official invitation for the company's accession to the International Transship International Transport Route Association and correspondence is currently being exchanged between the International Association of Trans-Caspian International Transport and BDZ Freight Transport EOOD regarding the membership of the company in the Association, since the permanent members are the founding companies of the Association, the opportunities for BDZ - Freight Transport Ltd. is to be an associated member or a simple partner , was clear from the minister's written response.

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