Albania’s government plans to open a tender for the construction of the Adriatic–Ionian motorway or the Blue Corridor, a very important project that starts from border with Montenegro in Muriqan to Kakavija border crossing with Greece, by the end of the year, the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, said on Tuesday during a meeting with the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure of Croatia, Oleg Butkovic in Tirana.

In a joint statement to the media, Balluku informed that the meeting focused on all the steps that will be taken in the future, starting from the most important project that Albania already has, the Blue Corridor, while Croatia has launched this project for years and is nearing completion.

"The Blue Corridor crosses the entire Western Balkans, which is bordered by the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea, starting from Croatia to Greece. Albania has an important part of this corridor, so we started work last year, but due to the pandemic and financial problems created by the pandemic this project was stopped for the time being, to continue very soon this year. Immediately in the fall we will once again launch a tender for the construction of the Blue Corridor,” Balluku noted.

Balluku assessed that the government aims to increase cooperation with Croatia based on important agreements, such as those of air, maritime and road transport.

In the field of road transport, Balluku informed his Croatian counterpart on all the modern infrastructure that is being built, or is planned to be built in the future in Albania, to respond to the great demand of tourists visiting the country.

Balluku also said the meeting focused on cooperation in the field of maritime transport. "We discussed how sea lines can be created from Durrës to Zadar, or from Durrës to Rijeka and vice versa, and how a part of the transport, in terms of exports and imports can be done by sea,” she said.

On the other hand, Balluku asked for support from the Croatian Ministry for the exchange of experiences on the drafting of projects in the railway sector, the way of application or other steps in the future, given that according to her, "the railway sector is one of the priorities of the government in its third term".

Modern Railways, Key to Back Development

Croatian Minister Oleg Butkovic described the meeting in Tirana as very successful, while underlining the readiness to cooperate in the implementation of discussed projects.

"We are available to cooperate, as we have gone through several phases, such as road payments and the construction of railways, which is one of the biggest challenges we have as a ministry. During these years we can say that we have made many steps forward in this system, so we are available to help you with our experiences and our experts, to integrate into the railway system as soon as possible,” he said. The Croatian minister stressed that "without modern railways, Albania economy cannot develop."

Butkovic stressed that Croatia is ready to help Albania in the development of the railway infrastructure.