Japan to Lend 370 Million Dollars to Bulgaria

Japan to lend 370 million dollars to Bulgaria

SOFIA, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) — The Japanese Government intents to extend a loan of 370 million U.S. dollars for a new Official Development Assistance (ODA) project to build new container terminals at the Black Sea ports of Varna and Burgas, the JapaneseEmbassy said Monday in a press conference.

Japan’s Ambassador to Bulgaria Tsuneharu Takeda conferred with Bulgaria’s Transport Minister Peter Moutafchiev here on Monday about this project.

The new terminals and facilities and equipment of the two largeinternational ports will help deal with the growing number of containers and achieve a higher logistical effectiveness. Considering that the Black Sea is an eastern gateway of the European Union to Central Asia and the Middle East, the two ports are expected to cope with an increasing cargo container traffic inthe coming future, the Japanese Embassy said.

Japan has supported Bulgaria to build stable democracy and a market-oriented economy through sustained economic development in various forms, such as loans, grants, technical cooperation etc. to a total value exceeding 840 million dollars.

The Transport Ministry Press Center confirmed to local press that Moutafchiev has approved the Japanese proposal to extend the loan.

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