Bulgaria’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadzhov met with North Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Aleksandar Nikoloski at the Global Transport Connectivity Forum 2025 in Istanbul, the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Communications reported.

Grozdan Karadzhov assured that Sofia is actively working on Corridor No. 8, and by the end of July, a tender will be announced for the construction of the last 2.4 km of the railway line between Gyueshevo and Deve Bair on the border with North Macedonia. All procedures have been completed. The funding of EUR 69 million has been secured from the EU. By the end of 2028, a Bulgarian train will reach Deve Bair, Minister Karadzhov said and recalled that Bulgaria is to invest over EUR 1.5 billion in modernizing the railway line from Sofia to the border with North Macedonia.

• 2 kilometers remain to be built on the Bulgarian side of Corridor No. 8

• Bulgarian Ministry of Transport confirms priority of Corridor No. 8 connecting the Adriatic with the Black Sea

Deputy Prime Ministers Karadzhov and Nikoloski agreed to hold a new meeting to coordinate an agreement on a railway tunnel between the two countries. They also agreed to send experts to participate in the July meeting on Corridor No. 8, organized by the European Commission.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Published and translated by Kostadin Atanasov