Bulgaria's Varna and Burgas have potential to become EU’s trade hubs to Asia

Bulgaria has presented its vision for the strategic role of its Black Sea ports as key EU gateways to the Middle Corridor trade route.

At a meeting in Brussels dedicated to transport connectivity between the European Union and countries in Asia and Eastern Europe, Deputy Transport Minister Anna Natova highlighted Bulgaria's geostrategic importance as an EU member state with direct access to the Black Sea. She stressed the need to ensure faster, safer and more efficient cargo transportation along the route through investments in the modernization of Bulgarian port infrastructure.

According to the Bulgarian proposal, the ports of Varna and Burgas have the potential to develop into major logistics and trade hubs linking the European Union with Asian markets.

The Middle Corridor, officially known as the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, is a multimodal trade route connecting Europe and China through Kazakhstan, the Caucasus region and the Balkans.

At the forum, Turkish transport minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu called on the European Union to streamline customs procedures for Turkish freight traffic entering and crossing the bloc, according to BTA.

Edited by Ivo Ivanov