Skopje, 12 November 2025 (MIA) - Commenting on the signing of the agreement with Bulgaria on construction of a Corridor VIII railway tunnel, Minister of Transport Aleksandar Nikoloski told Telma TV's political show "Top Tema" on Wednesday that the issue was essentially more of an engineering nature, rather than political.

The Minister noted that there were many shows in Bulgaria circulating the thesis that Nikoloski and his Bulgarian counterpart Grozdan Karadjov allegedly lied about the agreement. However, he pointed out, things require an objective viewpoint.

"It was not easy for Karadjov. The Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport should be given credit for that work. Because serious political structures in Bulgarian political life were against this. I generally don't think they even know what the project really is about, but they are against good relations and against normalizing relations between Macedonia and Bulgaria," said Nikoloski.

The Minister pointed out that the French government, and the French Minister of Transport and Communications, has played an important role in concluding the agreement between North Macedonia and Bulgaria.

"I believe the Minister understood that the issue was essentially more of an engineering nature, rather than a political one, and that politics should stay out of it. The recommendation was that we only discuss topics related to the functionality of the project," Nikoloski added.

The Macedonian Railways project was presented at a meeting in Istanbul, whereby a solution was found.

"I presented the project Macedonian Railways Infrastructure has developed for the entire tunnel. They reviewed it and accepted it after a few days. They said that it was excellently done. I took on the obligation to speed up work on the second part of the railway section. That is the part that goes from Beljakovce to Kriva Palanka. We have launched Beljakovce-Kumanovo. Two more tunnels remain undrilled out of a total of 16 that will be on that route, and I took on the obligation to tender the third part that opens Palanka to the border, i.e. to the tunnel," said Nikoloski. 

North Macedonia and Bulgaria defined activities and shared obligations for the construction of the Corridor VIII cross-border railway tunnel with an agreement signed on November 6 by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Aleksandar Nikoloski and his Bulgarian counterpart Grozdan Karadjov at the Gyueshevo railway station.

The designed length of the tunnel is approximately 2.4 kilometers, with 1.189,30 meters on Macedonian territory and 1.193,70 meters on Bulgarian territory. 

Photo: MIA archive