YEREVAN, MAY 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Yesterday the trucks - participants of the Black Sea Ring-Shaped Highway Caravan (BSRHC) program crossed the border of Armenia. The trucks set off from Belgrade on April 14, and on May 17 they headed from Armenia to Georgia. A truck from each of 12 Black Sea countries (Serbia, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Greece, Albania and Azerbaijan) is participating in the program. Although Azerbaijan is among participants, its truck did not come to Armenia, while the Armenian truck was forbidden to enter Azerbaijan. The last point of destination of the caravan will be Istanbul. According to the RA Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication Hrant Beglarian, the Armenian truck will enter Turkey without difficulty. He said that the initiative will promote the cooperation between member states of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) organization and increase the volume of passenger and cargo transportation. In particular, the program's purpose is to collect information about waiting time, procedures and payments at border crossing points and visa-related requirements to drivers in BSEC countries. The BSRHC program is implemented based on the mutual understanding memorandum on coordinated development of the Black Sea ring-shaped highway, which was signed at the sitting of the council of foreign ministers of BSEC countries on April 19, 2007. The sides, which signed the document, have come to an agreement to build a 7,000-km ring-shaped highway along the Black Sea. In the words of H. Beglarian, in case of necessity some sections of the highway will be reconstructed after its testing. The Armenian side (a 300-km section of the highway runs through Armenia) will also participate in this work.

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