With joint efforts Bulgaria and Romania can turn the Black Sea basin into a new priority of the European Union and a prosperous European region, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Assen Gagaouzov said Thursday.

This was one of the subjects he posed at the opening of a working session in Calarasi, organized by the Romanian Minister of Development, Public Works and Housing Laszlo Borbely, BTA reports.

The subjects of the session were related to Bulgarian-Romanian infrastructure projects under the Phare programme for cross-border cooperation between the two countries. The
participants in the session said that a Bulgarian-Romanian meeting is to be held in October to discuss future programmes estimated at 265 million euro. A protocol on bilateral cooperation in the next six years is to be signed.

The two ministers unveiled facilities of the ferryboat connection between Silistra and Calarasi.

The ferryboat link will actually go into operation at the start of October. The fares are not expected to be higher than the current ones, it emerged at the news conference.

A new checkpoint at Bulgaria's border with Romania was unveiled in Silistra, along with an access road connecting it with the Rousse-Silistra motorway. Attending the opening ceremony were Gagaozov, Silistra Regional Governor Stevlana Velikova, Silistra Mayor Ivo Andonov, Borbeli, Romanian Transport Minister Ludovic Orban, Calarasi Prefetc Serban Jenel, as well as officials from Silistra's twin towns in Ukraine, Khmelnitsky and Luleburgaz in Turkey. The new facility is part of the ferryboat link between Silistra and Calarasi.