The Russian and Ukrainian ministers of transport are discussing the
construction of a bridge over the Kerch Strait and a bridge around the
Black Sea, RIA Novosti reports.
Ukrainian Minister of Transport and Communication Constantine
Yefremenko and Russian Minister of Transport Igor Levitin are having
the 8th session of the sub-commission for transport of the Committee
for Economic Cooperation of Russia and Ukraine in Kiev.
The ministers will discuss naval security issues in the Kerch Strait,
Azov and Black Seas. They will have talks on the liberalization of
mutual access to interior water routes. Russian vessels will have
access to Dnieper and Ukrainian - to Volga and Don.
The sides also considered railroad development sphere, in particular,
the prospects of constructing a broadband railroad branch on Kosice
(Slovakia) section - Bratislava - Vienna and development of transit
containers for shipments from China to Ukraine and Russia heading to
European countries.
Russia and Ukraine renewed the work on construction of Crimea-Caucasus
bridge after Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych came to power in
early 2010. The bridge will be ready for the Olympic Games in Sochi in
2014. It will reduce the length of the road from Ukraine's Kherson to
Novorossiysk by 450 km. Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov
said that the route will turn Crimea and the Russian part of the Black
Sea into a single resort region.
