Bulgaria and Croatia seek to draw tourists to ancient Roman roads

In their coverage of Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's visit to Zagreb on Wednesday, Bulgarian media focused on talks on economic cooperation and trade between the two countries. The talks were led by economy ministers Djuro Popijac of Croatia and Traicho Traikov of Bulgaria, and one of the topics discussed was promotion of the international tourism project "The Road of Roman Emperors", which includes four countries -- Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Serbia. The project combines the promotion of cultural heritage dating from Roman times with modern practices such as spa tourism.

In Bulgaria, the itinerary includes Roman routes that are still in use today as major transport arteries, such as the Danube River, the Sofia-Plovdiv-Svilengrad road, and the Black Sea panorama road, Sofia News Agency said, quoting the Bulgarian Economy Ministry.

Traikov and Popijac hailed the 10% rise in Bulgarian-Croatian trade in 2010, and Traikov said that Croatia's accession to the EU would substantially boost the trade and investments.
The two ministers agreed that the respective energy companies should study the options for exporting Bulgarian electricity to Croatia, the news agency said.

Popijac and Traikov further underscored the importance of developing the EU-sponsored Southern Gas Corridor for the import of Caspian natural gas, building liquefied natural gas terminals in Southeast Europe, and electricity grid connections. In 2010, trade between Bulgaria and Croatia totaled EUR 117.6 million, up 10 per cent from the previous year. (Hina)