Bulgaria, China Ink Memorandum on High-Speed Railway

Bulgaria's Transport Minister Alexander Tsvetkov and China's Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun have signed a memorandum for bilateral cooperation in railway transport.

The document was signed Tuesday in the presence of Zhang Dejiang, Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China, right before the opening of the 7th World Congress on High Speed Rail.

The memorandum defines the spheres of cooperation, which include the transit through Bulgaria on Eurasian transport corridors, modernization of existing railway infrastructure, research in the field of railway technology, including development of rapid and high-speed rail, exchange of experts.

During their meeting, Tsvetkov and Liu discussed the specific actions for the realization of the goals, envisioned in the document.

The two agreed that an expert group should be sent from China to Bulgaria, in order to explore the possibilities for joint manufacturing of wagons and locomotives in Bulgaria in compliance with the standards and technical requirements of the EU.

Tsvetkov also met with China's Minister of Transport, Li Shenglin, with whom he negotiated the creation of a contact group of experts, which would be responsible for outlining the specific topics and areas of the bilateral cooperation in the maritime, river and air transport.