New transport corridor to Western Europe to be created in two years in Kaliningrad

On Friday, the Polish capital saw the signing of an agreement to build a road that will become a new motor transport corridor to Western Europe for the Kaliningrad region /Russia's enclave in the Baltic/.

The agreement to build this modern motor highway was signed by Co-chairmen of the Russo-Polish intergovernmental committee on trade and economic co-operation, Russian Transport Minister Sergey Frank and Vice Premier, Polish Infrastructure Minister Marek Pol.

As Frank stated at a press conference, this 200-kilometre-long highway between Kaliningrad and the Polish town of Elblong, which was due to be completed along with the customs terminal in 2005, would significantly simplify business relations of the Russian enclave with West Europe.

The parties also signed an agreement on co-operation between the Russian Gosstroy company and the Polish Infrastructure Ministry and a working protocol summing up the results of a two-day meeting of the joint committee.

Frank and Pol stated at a press conference that during the work the committee had mostly focused on the two countries' trade and economic co-operation after Poland's upcoming joining the European Union in 2004. "We are establishing our business relations ahead of time taking into consideration this fact to eliminate all possible negative consequences," the Russian Transport Minister stated.