Medvedev signs memorandum on Black Sea highway into law
MOSCOW. Dec 27 (Interfax) - President Dmitry Medvedev has signed into law a bill "On the Ratification of the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding on the Coordinated Development of a Ring Highway around the Black Sea", the Kremlin's press service reports.
The memorandum was signed by the member states of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization (BSEC) on April 19, 2007 at their meeting in Belgrade.
The State Duma and the Federation Council ratified the memorandum on December 8 and 15, 2010 respectively.
The BSEC governments acknowledge serious difficulties in international automobile transportation in the region and the need for concerted efforts in modernizing the existing roads and building new ones, the document says.
The memorandum stipulates the construction of a 7,140-km-long high-capacity ring highway via Istanbul (Turkey), Samsun (Turkey), Trabzon (Turkey), Batumi (Georgia), Poti (Georgia), Novorossiisk (Russia), Rostov-on-Don (Russia), Taganrog (Russia), Mariupol (Ukraine), Odesa (Ukraine), Chisinau (Moldova), Bucharest (Romania), Haskovo (Bulgaria), Edirne (Turkey), Istanbul (Turkey), Komotini (Greece), Aleksandroupolus (Greece).
The future highway will boost trade, economic, humanitarian and tourism ties in the Black Sea region and across the entire Eurasian continent.